It’s funny how the climate and seasons can twist, turn and dance to their own beat. One minute you’re thinking that the rains have returned, the next finds you in an old school proper Indian summer. Happens every year, and the mysterious topsy-turvy spring portends cooler and moister weather, maybe. But that ain’t here tonight. It’s warm and the doors and windows are thrown open. Pesky thrips flutter around the the devices us humans use to ward off the dark night. At least there’s no need to run the wood heater!
Just took the large dog Ollie out into the evening to do his business. The warm air is quite pleasant. The journey took an unexpected turn because the canine almost met Kuato the overfed possum. Belying the unathletic appearance, the marsupial bounded high up into a fig tree out of harms way. Plenty of ‘Leave it!’ commands were heard before the Bull Arab admitted defeat and did what was expected of him.
The fig was a gift from a local many long years ago now. The story was recounted that her grandfather had sourced a cutting of the original plant when he was a young bloke and travelling in northern Africa. The tree here is now many generations old, and given the rate that the tasty fruit is disappearing, it’s clear the local wildlife are enjoying the benefits of the tree.
At the base of the fig tree grow a few varieties of the local ferns. They’ve been growing in that garden bed for a year now, or is it two? Hard to remember such details. Anyway, it’s easier to recall that the weather has suddenly turned warm and dry again, mostly because each day there is a long list of plants which require water. And those ferns are some of the plants which have required a little bit of watering each day, not much, just enough to keep them alive. It’s not a quick job.
Elsewhere on the property, some of the tree ferns appear to have died. At this stage, it’s hard to know whether those ferns have actually died, or whether the deer and other wildlife have merely eaten all of the fronds. The answers to these and more questions will be revealed in time. Right now though, they’re not looking all that healthy.
Hot and dry summer growing seasons can be super productive, if a garden has access to plentiful water. The extra energy from the heat causes plants to grow fast, and if they can obtain heaps of water to drink, well, that’s the very definition of the tropics, isn’t it? On the other hand, if it doesn’t rain here regularly, there’s only the water stored in the tanks. That can be used, until that runs out. It’s a finite resource.
Fortunately things are not yet dire with the water reserves here, but it’s not a comfortable story either. Regular readers will recall that last week, several oak tree seedlings were relocated to a sunnier location. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and with the weather surprisingly turning warm and dry again, those trees have to be regularly watered. Moving a tree is easy when there is plenty of regular rainfall, that just hasn’t been the case.
A plan formed. Connect up a garden tap and hose near to the oak trees. Seemed easy enough. On Thursday we travelled about half an hours drive to the nearest big outer suburban area. The town has an irrigation supply shop, as well as a big box hardware store. Australian’s will know which one it is.
Both businesses seemed well stocked, although they appeared quieter than previous experiences. That may have been because the visit occurred around lunch time, but it’s hard to know really. Anyway, grabbed all of the various parts required to complete the rest of the water tank / pump project. That was when sticker shock set in. Was all that stuff really $400? Turns out it was.
Maybe I’ve been living under a rock? Forget about what you’re told, prices are definitely on the up. Years ago with visits to such stores, you’d chuck a few of those items over there into the basket, maybe some of those other ones as well, they’ll be useful at some point in the future. Forget about that nowadays! Before venturing to the store, I’d already raided the spare parts bins here, and about half of the parts for the recent water system upgrades didn’t need to be purchased – they were already here waiting to be used.
Prices, prices, prices. When we planted out the first fruit trees, they were $10 each, and some cost less than that. Nowadays a fruit tree will cost anywhere between $40 and $60. Having known many of those trees for over a decade and then some, you get to realise that some of those trees aren’t producing well. Quinces for some reason are a total disappointment here, regardless of where they were sourced. Removing some of them might free up growing space and resources which can be redirected to the remaining trees. Dunno. Fertiliser is not cheap either.
The ever rising prices gives the thoughtful person a moment’s pause for thought. It’s an unsettling period of cogitation. What does it all mean? Most likely it’s probably not good. The idea formed that at some point in the not too distant future, due to economic realities, we may no longer be able to expand the infrastructure here. There’ll be a point reached where the funds we do have and earn, will probably go towards maintaining what’s already here. Beyond that point, the future looks dark, although the plan is always to eat well, as will Kuato and company! When faced with this big picture stuff, all a person can ever do is take action and hope for the best. It’ll be fine, maybe.
The dry weather was motivating, and many hours of work this week was (please excuse the pun) poured into the water systems. As part of the work, four treated pine posts were cemented into the ground. The posts themselves were used in the original chicken enclosure. They were recovered years ago when we dismantled the structure. Three of the four posts will support garden taps, whilst the other one will support a quick release (cam-lock) connector for an electric water pump which won’t be used very often, so doesn’t need to sit out in the sun and rain all day, every day.
There are water pumps at each end of that long line of water tanks. One pump sends water downhill, whilst the other sends water uphill. In the above image the pump housing and system there sends water uphill. It’s not a bad idea to have a garden tap near to that location, so a treated pine post was cemented into the ground.
On a sunny warm morning, a couple of hours work connected up a garden tap to that system and timber post. Plus observant readers will note that in the next image, my hand is resting on a very solid hose hanger.
Another post was cemented into the ground near to where the oak trees were relocated last week.
A day’s work earlier in the week extended the existing downhill water system to that timber post. It’s got a tap and neat hose hanger as well. The oak trees can now be watered easily using a hose. It’s worthwhile mentioning that we can now send water downhill at least 60m / 200ft below the greenhouse. Not a bad idea if there is a bushfire.
If you look really closely at the timber fence post nearest to Ollie, you’ll observe that we’ve begun to install fence extenders so as to keep the Sambar deer out of that large enclosure.
And whilst deer have been bounding the fence, the wombats and rabbits have been burrowing under it. Yes, there is much work yet to be done with that fence. And one of the two under fence mischief makers have dug up and eaten all of the sugar beets. All of them. They were probably sweet and tasty what with being 20% sugar.
At least the newly relocated oak trees are growing well and enjoying their new sunnier location.
Two other treated pine posts were cemented into the ground next to the large plastic house overflow water tank. One of the posts will have a garden tap attached, whilst the other is for a quick release (cam-lock) connector which can attach a water pump. With those two connections, water can be sent uphill from the long line of water tanks to the house overflow tank, or from the house overflow tank further up the hill to the house water tanks. Is that all clear? Hope so! Just to confuse matters further, with the system, it can even send water directly from the long line of water tanks, all the way back uphill to the house water tanks. This hot and dry year, the system in it’s makeshift form has proven that it is necessary.
A whole lot of dead vegetation had to be removed near to the large water tank in the above image. A couple of rabbits have made their burrows in that impenetrable mess, as well as a few disturbingly large rats. The plan over the next month or so is to remove the last of the Echium plants from any garden beds. They just produce too much dense woody material which naughty critters love, and the dogs can’t get into. Fortunately the plant is a softwood species and the chainsaw eats up such organic material.
Apparently Easter Tuesday burn off restrictions will be lifted. The Echium material will slowly then be burnt off, but we’ll wait until the conditions are safe to do so. You can always tell that an election is soon to be held for any government, because a burn off was conducted in the nearby state forest. About time too, lazy so-and-so’s.
Another plant was removed this week, but for different reasons. It was a succulent ground cover known as ‘baby sun rose’. A truly great and super hardy plant, it was simply in the wrong location and was taking over. We’ve decided to relocate a round raised garden bed to that location instead.
The many Japanese maple seedlings which were dug out and potted up earlier in the growing season, are now almost little trees. They sure grow fast those plants, and best of all, they were free!
In the warm weather this week, most of the seeds for the winter vegetables have germinated. And they’re growing fast too in the suddenly warm weather.
This year we grew a new type of berry which I’d not seen nor heard of before. The plant was a gift from a visitor a few years ago, and at one point was even pulled out of the ground because we’d confused it with a weed! It s worth noting that the plant has only been watered less than a handful of times all summer long, yet it produced some very fine tasting berries. They’re so tasty and reliable I was recently pondering the idea of removing all of the blueberries and replacing them with the Midyim berries.
We’ve already harvested plenty of the pumpkin crop, however the suddenly warmer week is working wonders with the fruit still remaining on the vines.
The wildlife are always up to interesting activities. The smaller birds often use the dogs water bowls as a water source and swimming hole. Earlier today I spotted a Fairy Wren using the water in the dish to spruce up her feathers. Perhaps the lady was heading out on a date?
This week’s video is on the relocating of the oak trees:
Onto the flowers:
The temperature outside now at about 9am is 15’C (59’F). So far for last year there has been 150.2mm (5.9 inches) which is up from last weeks total of 148.6mm (5.9 inches)
Comments
40 responses to “Arms length”
Yo, Chris – I do hope the upcoming cooler, wetter weather, will revive your tree ferns. Such stately plants. Fodder for dinosaurs?
Sticker shock, indeed. Right across the board. I had to purchase a new hose sprayer, the other day. $16. And, I noticed a six pack of small water fall petunias, was $17. No patriotic petunia basket, this year, at those prices. I’ll just have to settle for Vinca (aka periwinkle). I wonder if the new Winco store, will have any garden supplies? Sometimes, our larger grocery stores stock garden things. Mostly, plants. But sometimes there are surprises.
All those pine posts will come in handy, if you need to flog a slave. Or, a lazy transported convict. 🙂
Oh, that’s tragic about the sugar beets. Are you finding yourself getting less tolerant, of the wildlife? Bumping along in relative harmony is one thing. But there “give an inch and they’ll take a mile” attitude would be a bit wearing.
The oak tree does indeed look happy. The planting video was superb. I was surprised the oak didn’t have a deeper tap root. Something I learned about myself, a long time ago. Dig the hole before I purchase a plant. 🙂
The Japanese maple volunteers also look very happy. Speaking of sticker shock, that’s a lot of money on the hoof. So to speak. At least here.
Your leaf change is putting on, quit a show. Maybe you could charge leaf peppers, admission? And extra for selfies. Maybe not.
I saw an article about our maple sugar industry, the other day. I’ll link to it, tomorrow, if I can find it again. I don’t think it was mentioned in the article, but maple syrup is a prime target, for crims.
The geraniums and roses are just spectacular. Lew
ferns- Must have ferns at fern glade farm! Weird, but white tail deer here don’t bother our ferns.
sticker shock- yeah, this is just one aspect of what collapse looks like. Sudden changes in availability, prices getting crazy, having to do more and more make do. Get stuff while you can. Orange face has been speeding up the process lately as well.
I ran across an on line group that are crossing hickories and pecans, as well as searching out and propagating hickories with larger nuts and thinner shells. Just the thing for my place I thought, I’ll get a dozen or so, and supplement the local nut trees. Well, at $80 each, my plans changed. I’ll just have to get better at cracking the smaller and thicker shelled local nuts.
I agree with Lew, there comes a point when the locals are just getting too pushy about taking advantage of your beneficence. I have to put full cages around each chestnut tree, since they are spread around too large an area to fence as a whole. I’d be eating Sambar steaks by now……..
You are the top predator in your area after all.
midyims- I suspect they would not make it through a Wisconsin winter, and my quick google search seemed to indicate they are not commercialized, and strictly Australian. Just wish my Juneberry plants were doing better. Further north of here, in the right terrain, wild blueberries are a good foraging food, but not here.
Hi Steve,
Plenty of different ferns have survived the hot and dry summer, it’s just the large tree ferns which have suffered the most. My understanding is that the pith of those ferns is edible, even for humans, if somewhat bitter tasting. Think of the tree ferns like a tall and bitter potato! It may be that the wildlife has consumed or removed the fronds so as to get at the pith, but until cooler and damper weather returns, who knows what is going on? They do have the abilities to bounce back from bushfire.
🙂 Things are clearly bigger down under. I’d swap the local deer for those smaller white tail variety you get to enjoy! Being bigger, the local deer need a lot more feeding, that’s my best guess. And they’d probably require a lot of processing.
Yeah, sticker shock is all part of that story, yup. Given the quieter consumer experience I observed the other day, it is possible that down here we’re following a ‘rationing by price’ model. Certainly this seems to be the case with housing. It’s probably not a smart move, but there are plenty of things going on that I disagree with. My thoughts in these matters doesn’t seem to make much difference.
And that’s my point as well. At $80, a fruit tree becomes a considerable investment. My plans would change as well, although the variety does sound like a good idea. Man, it’s like fruit netting here with the hundreds of trees, the story makes no economic sense.
Exactly, crack the hard nuts you can grow in your area. What else do you do? Despite the depredations of the local wildlife, we’re still harvesting plenty of produce. The trick is to out-produce them all, and then winter will set the upper limits to the local critters population. Of course, the deer are a totally different matter because other than humans, they have no predators. Incidentally, I believe a neighbour bopped the last deer maybe a week or two back, but I’m ready for them regardless.
There are cages around all of the trees here which are less than 3m in height. I hear you about that, and eating the bark off fruit trees really annoys the daylights out of me. If I may, such activities usually occur during spring when protein levels in the plants are at their lowest point in the annual cycle. The rabbits are a pain here as well, but easier to deal with.
🙂 Steve, I was surprised that the Midyim berries survived winter here, so Wisconsin with your serious snow is right out! Hehe! Oh well. They seem to have origins around the sweet spot on this continent which is about half way up the north east coastline. The Macadamia nut has it’s origins around there too. I’ve got two of those trees growing here, and they haven’t died, but neither have they grown. Don’t know what to make of that.
Your Juneberry plants are very interesting, and they sure sound like they’d survive your winter weather, but sorry to hear that yours are not doing so well. Hmm. My interest was piqued, and the plant is available locally, but is super expensive. Yikes!
The birds are onto the blueberries here – two properties uphill from here, there is a blueberry farm, and all the birds around this area know the fruit.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Wouldn’t it be funny if instead of producing an almighty roar sound to make the strongest mammal quake in fright, dinosaurs made some sort of weird squeaking sound to express their displeasure – like one of those squeaky dog chew toys! Just a random thought…
Yeah, the forecast is suggesting that Easter Saturday and Sunday will supply some rain. Hopefully it eventuates earlier this evening whilst out walking the dogs, I spotted a Salvia which was showing signs of water stress. And those plants are meant to be super drought hardy. Sure they are. Most of the ferns are doing OK, it’s more the tall tree ferns which are suffering badly. And honestly, I’d hate to imagine what the deer have done to the ferns in the creek at the bottom of the property.
Ouchy! Those sorts of prices hurt to read. The hose sprayers are expensive items here too. And not to mention that hoses themselves are not cheap either. I’ve got to go back to the big box hardware store and pick up a 100ft hose, and there’s a huge difference in quality with that stuff. The harsh summer UV radiation down here destroys cheaper hoses in only a few years.
And that’s the thing isn’t it? Can’t have a petunia display, grow a periwinkle display instead. Better to adapt than waste energy on railing against the system, although it does feel good to do that from time to time don’t you reckon? Sometimes we all need a decent rant. 🙂
I’d never thought of putting the treated pine posts to such a use. Either existence would have been miserable. To be honest, it amazes me that despite the cheapskate approach to transporting felons down under, none of the ships actually sank at sea. I reckon the worst ships would have been those who’s crew skimped on convicts rations so as to sell them to locals when arriving in the colony.
Nah, I’m cool about the wildlife predation – except for the deer. I’ve arrived at the point where it cannot be denied that we are the predators for those large forest critters. Every other critter has limits set upon their population levels, even the pesky rabbits. Kuato fell out of the fig tree last night. That’s how Ollie almost got him last night. So what happened, the fat possum was clearly reaching for a fig on a branch which was a bit far out from the trunk and probably beyond the engineering tolerances. The branch broke! Serves the marsupial right!
We’ll fix up the fencing over the next six months. There are plans!
Oh thanks very much for saying that! 🙂 I was also surprised that the tree didn’t have a large tap root either, and can’t explain that. Not all of the large trees around here have deep tap roots. You get to see such things when they fall over occasionally. In a more usual growing season, the conditions aren’t ordinarily this dry. Even so, most of the well established trees are showing no signs of water stress. It’s all the smaller plants which are. It’s possible that the soil feeding regime is making a massive difference to resiliency. Dunno.
Hehe! Sage advice there. Yup, dig hole first. It’s hard work that job.
The Japanese maple seedlings are going gang busters! And man, prices are feral down here. I just didn’t buy that much stuff. To be honest, I’m happy that we got stuck into the infrastructure, plants and tools many long years ago. It’s a real worry what’s going on.
Hehe! I worked super late tonight, finishing up close to 9pm. But late this afternoon we headed down to the general store to check the mail and grab a coffee. There were plenty of tourists around taking selfies. Yup. Lot’s of posing and stuff. Oh to be young and silly again!
Maybe one day we’ll do one of those paid camping sites here? Dunno, we might have to do so one day.
Really? I guess taking the unattended syrup bottles hanging off trees would be something crims would do. You hear such stories. I’ve heard of people nicking bee hives – like how problematic would that be? It sure makes a person wonder. Please do link to the article.
Those plants are really enjoying the warm and dry conditions. What I’m discovering is that the longer established plants in better fed soil breeze through these sorts of weather extremes. The roses haven’t been watered all summer. We’ll probably have to prune them soon.
Man, the weather wasn’t much different here, and it was warmer outside at day break than it was in the middle of the day. How does that work? Tomorrow will warm up again though. Good to hear that you dodged the frost. That’s a real bonus for this time of year.
Ook! Fingers crossed that Professor Mass survives the budget cuts, and that there is no decline in service. You’d imagine that budget cuts would affect maintenance levels? Even I’m having to consider how far do we take the infrastructure here. Not sure really, we’re all in an unknown country.
What I’ve learned, by Chris. So it is possible to eat a gourmet meat pie, or a tasty ice cream – but both within an hour of each other. I think not! A bit rich for my tastes. Actually, on that note I’ve gone from a double scoop to a single scoop of ice cream because it’s also the less rich on the guts choice. I’m soft…
Time does indeed fly when we’re having fun! 🙂
Yeah, the phone mob will get you sooner or later. That scanning in at the bank was a surprise moment… Nothing wrong with big buttons, large screen and speaker which can be heard. Getting all that and making the device able to be dropped from heights, that’s more difficult.
Dude, that’s totally ripped off with the film. Hey, don’t you reckon those moors are a dangerous place to hang out? They have a somewhat eerie reputation, especially at night. Sherlock Holmes, or more correctly Doctor Watson, was investigating one of those moments of mad canine mischief on the moors. And see, I told you that from time to time a good rant clears the sinuses. 🙂
A lot of second hand clothes and other goods also come from deceased estates, the article didn’t mention that point as they might not wanted to have freaked out the younger readers! And I’m absolutely with you there, so much made stuff is floating around the environment. Those rubbish piles in Birmingham should not be, except for the massive wastefulness. When I was a kid, nobody went through clothes the way they do nowadays – churning as a strategy is not sustainable.
Yes, who can forget such poor manufacturing outcomes?
Hope H is feeling better today? It’s not good, and all dogs get a bit like that from time to time. The wheezing thing is not nice to see (you should see a dog having a seizure for real shock value, far out poor Dame Plum), but they do recover in time. In both cases I don ‘t know what you do, but I just try to calm them. At least the blankets are washable. Are they still using those dryer papers? You know I’d never heard of the things before you mentioned them. Whatever will they think of next?
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – I’m sure some dinosaurs squeaked. I know that sound … daily. H and I play three rousing rounds of keep-away, after her afternoon walk. With her squeaky turtle. Although I think she’s beginning to show her age. Lately, she doesn’t want to play, directly after her walk. It’s usually later in the evening. It’s always a bit gob smacking, when an unexpected sound comes from an unexpected source. Enormous guys with little squeaky voices. Elegant ladies with basso profundo voice registers.
Maybe Prof. Mass would argue that you’re not in a drought. 🙂 Our high yesterday was 61F (16.11C). The overnight low was 36F (2.22C). Forecast high for today is 71F. At least the next seven days are going to be glorious. No rain, forecast highs right around 70F. Perfect gardening weather. Though the Master Gardeners were here this morning. Warned that we could still get frosts. There has been frost in outlying areas. Last recorded frost I have (5 years) was May 10th. But … the snow is off Baw Faw peak 🙂 .
The hose I use in my area rode out the winter, ok. It was the sprayer that was bad. Several of them. The hose was recommended by the Master Gardeners. A -0- rated hose. The same stuff they use for fire hoses. A little hard to handle, as they get very rigid when filled. “My” hose is on a hose hanger, such as you use. There are other hoses here, on reels. When care is not used, they always end up breaking at the connection point. Anyway, I talked hoses to the Master Gardeners, this morning. To try and get some of the other ones up and running. So the “Ladies” don’t drag my hose, across garden beds.
Speaking of transportation to Australia, you may remember I recently read that book “X Troop” about the Jewish refugees who fled Hitler, and eventually were molded into a commando troop. But there was an incident that was quit shameful (not that we were as pure as the driven snow, due to our treatment of our Japanese citizens.)
https://w.wiki/DowM
So, Kuato overreached. 🙂 Serves him right. With all his padding, he probably just bounced.
Here’s the article on maple syrup production.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/12/business/trump-tariffs-american-maple-syrup-farmers
Meat pies vs ice cream. Reminds me of my executive decision as far as my after lunch two squares of dark chocolate and a small handful of walnuts. I started alternating days. Some of it was economics. Some of it was just to reduce my daily intake of calories. And, I figure I get enough of the “good stuff” in those products, even on an every-other-day schedule. Oddly, I more look forward to the walnuts, than the chocolate. I think it’s the crunch.
H had another one of her wheezing fits, yesterday. But not a bad one. I generally move her to a surface that’s easily cleaned up, and then gently stroke her chest and sides. I’d rather not deal with seizures. The wheezing is bad enough. But wasn’t Ruby’s problems due to magic mushrooms? There was some light banter among the Master Gardeners, this morning, as to if the mushroom compost came from magic mushrooms. And would vegetables grown in the stuff, afford you interesting “visuals.” The colors, the colors. 🙂
I read an interesting article, yesterday, about “The Lost City of The Samurai.” Feudal Japan.
https://archaeology.org/issues/may-june-2025/features/lost-city-of-the-samurai/
I found it really interesting as I had just (tried to) read a book about the early Anglo-Saxon kings. “The Birth of the Anglo Saxons.” (Adams, 2025.) Also a feudal society. More on that, tomorrow. Lew
Hi, Chris!
How big is that old fig tree? Could you put up a picture sometime, please? If it’s big enough to harbor Kuato, it must be pretty big, though I see that you mentioned that he fell out of it. There are drawbacks to being such a chubster.
Water tanks, tap, pump, hose hanger, dog, blue hat – and a Chris. Such a pleasing picture, maybe better even than a Kuato in a fig tree.
It is excellent to have all those taps in case of a fire. You are very smart to go to all that trouble. Why is there a difference between the diameters of the downhill water pipes and the uphill ones? That just happened to be the size of pipes that you had?
I do see your fence extender. You have just alarmed me with the theft of all of your beets. I have planted beets, too, though they are just coming up.
Why does a burnoff = an election?
What an interesting berry is the Midyim. You are right – the berries would not win a beauty contest. It appears, like Steve said, that they are only in Australia.
Your fairy wrens are so sweet. We do not have outdoor dog/squirrel water bowls anymore, but we have a little wren named Lewis that comes to the back porch railing every morning at 7:20 and sings for a walnut. When he was courting the future Mrs. Lewis he brought her, too. I think she is tending the nursery at home right now.
I much enjoyed your video. Already Episode 47?! The trees you were working with all grow here and like a fairly acidic soils, so is your soil somewhat acidic? What a nice little oak tree. Could we call that a small swale that you formed on the downhill side of the tree? That’s what I do when planting something on the side of the hill – I make it, usually with rocks as well, so that water will collect on that downhill side.
Thank you for the leaf change pictures. They are just as beautiful as flowers, though thank you also for the still lovely geraniums and roses.
Pam
Hey Chris,
Not sure if you saw the news, that backburning fire got out of control and was threatening homes in Daylesford. When asked why they conducted the burning even though the weather was forecast to be hot, the organisation said that the lead-time to get a permit is 5 years! They went ahead cos they didn’t want to miss the opportunity.
Crazy stuff. How many bushfires are due to bureaucratic bungling.
Hi Simon,
Yeah, I read the news about Daylesford fire. Far out! Controlled fires becoming uncontrolled happens for sure, and my best guess is that is due to as you note, conditions on the day. But also scale of the burn and resources can be an issue. Reminds me of the one on the other side of the mountain range which was ignited maybe the day or so before the footy finals many years ago. That was exciting. Oops! 🙂
Anyway, there were a lot of planned burns that day. Hmm. The goobermint lit a huge fire off to the west of here on the same day as you may have noticed in the photos? It’s not cheap to conduct burns on that scale, and I believe the guys who do the work only get a couple of months work per year. Nobody can realistically plan the weather that far in advance.
I read a really fascinating book on traditional indigenous burning practices, and yeah, so much better – in every way. The book is a great read, and I can loan it to you if you’re interested?: Victor Steffensen – Fire Country. An interesting bloke.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
Hmm, you know, I reckon the fig tree is at least fifteen years old, and maybe 16ft to 20ft tall (at a guess). It’s a pretty funny situation, except that Ollie almost got Kuato – not good. The foolish brush tailed possum had over reached and also over loaded the branch he was reaching across. There was a juicy (yet still unripe) fig just out of claws reach. Kuato has to be more careful in future, and as trees go deciduous, he’s going to face some tough decisions.
🙂 Thanks, and it’s good to be getting this water stuff sorted out. It’s been dry the past week or so, and the water levels in the house tanks are dwindling. I might start asking around to see how everyone else is going around here. The machinery shed system is about half full, so there’s no chance of running out of water any time soon. Still, it would be nice to get some decent rain.
Great question! The water pump connected up to the larger 1″ water pipes can push 80L (or around 20 gallons) of water per minute (and it pushed uphill). It’s a total water monster that machine! The water pump connected to the 3/4″ smaller water pipes can move 26L (or around 6.5 gallons) of water per minute (and it pushes downhill).
As a related side story, both friction and economics play a part in water pipe sizing.
How yummy are beets? What sort of varieties are you growing?
The burn off is to placate the rural folks. The state goobermint controls the forests, and so they’re responsible for managing the condition of the trees growing in there. Lots of forest fuels building up is a problem for rural communities. To me it looks like they don’t take their responsibilities seriously.
The berries aren’t well known in this corner of the continent, and they’re delicious – which is really quite surprising. It’s probably not commercially grown because the berries won’t store and travel well, but I reckon a person could dehydrate them, like people do with say, Goji berries.
Your wren has a delightful name, and it was a sensible move to introduce the spouse into polite society where walnuts are shared. 🙂 And may the wren’s flock be both healthy and happy.
Time flies, doesn’t it? Hard to believe we started that journey almost a year ago now. Absolutely! The soil here is a volcanic loam, but on the acidic side of things, thus why I have to bring in so many different Calcium varieties. If there were another way… Are your soils clayey, sandy or loamey?
🙂 They work those little water infiltration basins for young trees. Rocks are actually a really decent form of mulch. Planting trees on sloping land is a bit of an art form isn’t it? You soon learn what works. Years ago I used to use specially made strong plastic bags which held water and slowly dripped it onto trees. It was fun watching the frogs and spiders take up residence in the bags.
Thanks. The leaf change is really lovely and I can see why the tourists flock to the more fashionable end of the mountain range. You’ll be having lots of flowers at your place soon (or you already do).
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Man, I was thinking about yours and H’s tug-o-war with the squeaky toy when penning that paragraph. 🙂 Can you imagine a Jurrasic Park scene where some foolish person (who’d put the entire group at risk) was just about to get their just desserts, when t-rex goes ‘Squeak! Squeak!’, before then ripping off a few choice limbs.
Dogs are just like us, they age, except faster. And yeah, what do you do? I try to go with the flow with both myself and the dogs on that front. And man, you’re not wrong about that unexpected turn of events!
Professor Mass would indeed be correct if he argued we weren’t in a drought. 🙂 I’ve been having those thoughts as well. It has rained here, and mostly the falls have been average. It’s the distribution of rain which has been weird. Nothing. Then a lot. Nothing. Seems to be the way of things. Now the southern half of the state of South Australia, it’d be fair to say that they are enduring a drought.
Glorious weather always sounds nice, and spring is such a lovely time of year. It’ll be really nice here from now until Saturday night, apparently. Oh really, the snow is gone from the peak? Well that’s it then, maybe. Early spring is a notably changeable time though, the soil is yet to warm up at your place I reckon. That’ll be next month.
Yes, I’m very unimpressed with some of those sprayers, and have had poor results with all but the very basic devices. I’m not sure what you mean with the US garden hose rating system when you call a hose -0- rating? Down here, they tend to talk about kink resistance rating and expected lifespan in terms of years (sounds a bit weird doesn’t it, but I was referring to garden hoses). I tend to stick to 20 and 30 year life-spans, mostly because that seems to be about as long as they’ll survive out in the sun, wind and rain.
Oh my! Dragging a hose carelessly across a garden bed, is err, careless. It’d cause more damage than the average Kelpie would.
The HMT Dunera is a dark tale of human cruelty. From what I’ve read, some of the convict transport ships were run on that basis. It’s pretty disrespectful. Transport is a notoriously rough policy, and it goes on today.
Kuato seemed fine after the fall, and got seriously lucky that Ollie and he did not make closer acquaintance. Ollie was furious, but ultimately unfulfilled and must accept this outcome.
Those maple syrup producers might have to engage a local fabricator and engineering shop. Gonna be ‘spensive. Hey, I recall years ago US producers of lamb were protected against the cheaper Aussie exports into the US. Such things happen. It’s your country, you guys get to choose how to conduct trade matters, I’ve got no problems with that. Traditionally that’s how business was done, and we’re just zoooming backwards super fast. Dunno whether it will work, but it’s not mine to judge.
🙂 I totally get what you mean, and it’s the same decision really. The crunch would be good, hey, what about blending chocolate and walnuts? My grandmother used to bake a tasty chocolate walnut cake. She was occasionally a bit heavy handed with the baking soda, but one mustn’t quibble about such minor details.
Not good, and I don’t reckon there’s much more you can do than calm the dog. Presumably H brings up gunk with the wheezing fit?
Well there was that one time with Ruby, and it sent her into a brain lock, but no Dame Plum is the main offender. Ruby has wised up. Basically when it’s mushroom season, they get little free time. It does dogs no harm to be restricted when they can’t stop themselves. My general expectation with the dogs is that they enjoy the benefits of life here, but have to accept strict limits. They can’t simply go off and do what they want, which is probably what they’d like to do.
Whoa! Look at the pretty colours man! Cool. 🙂
A fascinating history, but a tumultuous one. People forget that sometimes such central rule holds things together. The area is physically very beautiful.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Maybe you should put in a few more water tanks? 🙂 You might end up being the Water Warrior (tip of the hat to Mad Max), of the Macedon Range. Sell it, by the liter, or more likely barter it. Remember … guns, gold or canned goods (or other produce). Maybe petrol?
Who puts a group at risk? It’s always a young person, who either makes too much noise or can’t follow instructions. Feed them to the dinosaurs! 🙂
H has another game she likes to play. When I wake up, and am sitting on the edge of the bed, contemplating assuming a vertical position. I throw the edge of the blanket, over her head. She begins to give short, sharp “yips.” If I touch her head, she barks and growls and tries to bite me through the blanket. She seems to really enjoy this bit of nonsense. She sometimes brings up gunk, when she goes into one of her wheezing fits. But not always. It’s usually a yellow bile type of stuff. I think mostly she just swallows it down.
Our high yesterday was 72F (22.22C). The overnight low was 36F (2.22C). The forecast high for today is 69F. Weather, in general, just seems to have more extremes. Prof. Mass’s post, today, is more banging on about how we’re not in a drought. 🙂 I’m holding off on any warm weather crops, but the Ladies keep asking. The Master Gardeners made an interesting comment. They asked if I had seen any slugs, yet. I’ve given the old double tap, to just one. “The slugs know…” according to the Master Gardener. I thought maybe we aren’t seeing them, because they have scattered a little bit of bait, around. But I asked some of the care givers, who live out of town. No slugs there, either. I just saw our postie, who’s a gardener. He says he doesn’t plant any warm weather crops until a week after our Mother’s Day. (Which is the second Sunday in May.) Makes sense as the latest frost I have recorded is May 10th.
I should have said, the hoses are rated down to -0-F. Or, thirty-two degrees below freezing.
So I take it you don’t want Ollie to nail Kuato? But he’s such a little bandit. They used to hang horse thieves. 🙂
I’d speculate that perhaps our maple syrup producers just got in the habit of ordering in equipment from Canada. Their maple syrup industry is a lot more extensive than ours. Lower prices for equipment may relate to scale of production.
I’ve never been particularly high on walnuts in baked goods. Who knows why? And, so many people have nut allergies, these days. Our night manager is a case in point. Accidental eating of nuts has almost done him in, a time or two.
Ah, and you’re coming into your mushroom season, just about now.
LOL. I tossed back the book on early Anglo-Saxon kings, as, I had hoped there would be a bit about the King of East Anglia, Raedwald, who may be the person buried at Sutton Hoo. He was just a footnote. I could have gotten a lot more information off of Wiki-hoopia.
https://w.wiki/Dpb7
But there’s the problem. Just read through that bit, and imagine 300+ pages of that. It was worse than “Game of Thrones!” 🙂 Way too many people whose names started with “Ae.” Followed by dense conglomerations of consonants.
But, I happened across that article about the valley of the samurai, and trigged to the idea that people are always trying to overthrow their overlords. I suppose that was what McBeth was all about.
Yes, I thought that valley was quit lovely. The western coast of Japan has a very low population. Probably, because in recent past it was a long trip to the bright lights and power centers of the east coast. A lovely valley, but I couldn’t help but wonder about flooding and landslides. Lew
Chris:
What will Kuato do in the winter? Actually, I am not sure what Petey the Possum does in the winter, besides eat handouts on the front porch. He ought to be hibernating some of the time. He used to all winter, but we had a lot of warm spells this last one, so he mostly stayed up.
I get you about the water pipe sizes, except: Where’s the friction? Is that caused by the Editor?
I grow Red Robushka and Lutz beets. I had to replant some seeds as there were some pretty big empty spaces. Last year Ii grew some golden beets, but I didn’t like them as much. They were long, not round and I really missed that red beet color. I love to put them in white rice. So pink!
Red/orange clay, all the way, with rocks. Really nice once you mix compost or something in it, and take out the rocks.
I don’t know if I want frogs in bags of water. Years ago frogs jumped into the dogs’ plastic wading pool and laid eggs, which hatched into tadpoles and I had to feed those babies for quite awhile until they turned into frogs. My sons loved watching them, though.
The volunteer tomatoes that I brought inside are outgrowing the ones still outside, so I think I will be planting some of the indoor ones.
Pam
Chris:
From last week:
I used to use rock phosphate, but when I went to buy some this year I was told that it is no longer available anywhere. Perhaps there are mining troubles? The clerk didn’t know.
“Truly, I’m glad that there is a blanket ban on the marketing of pharmaceuticals in this country. Being exposed to all that advertising would make me nervous about basic issues, like feeling tired in the morning prior to a cup of coffee.” Oh, how I long for the days when that was the rule here. It is digusting, the constant blitz of those companies’ products. I hope most people have learned to tune them out, or not to look at them online or in print.
Pam
Chris,
Ah, yes, the “Leave it!” command. It works wonderfully. Until it doesn’t. I’ve got a couple others that I use when that command is ignored. However, Monday night we skipped right past “Leave it!” It was dinner time. Dame Avalanche had already eaten. The Princess turned her head briefly. For the first time ever, Dame Avalanche put her paws on the table and her mouth neared the Princess’s plate. “No!” sternly growled the Princess. Twas a tone Dame Avalanche had never heard from the Princess. She disappeared, then slunk back toward me. “Go lie down!” I suggested. She left but then snuck back and was staring at us from the hallway. This led to a stern “Go lie down! Now!” She disappeared for 30 minutes and has been the most obedient she’s ever been since then.
I experienced sticker shock today. Grass seed, potting soil, dirt to spread with the grass seed, vegetable seed packets. Ouch! The grass seed is a blend made for this region. Allegedly. Rye and bluegrass. They were out of clover today. I’ve got more weed killing to do before I can spread the grass seed.
Your continued work on the water system looks good. And a pump that moves 80L per minute uphill is fantastic. Hopefully the rains come soon.
We’ve been having some spectacular weather, especially for April. Today was 23C and sunny. Dame Avalanche and I went for a walk, stopped so she could visit with a puppy who is her new friend, then continued on. Afterwards, we ran errands. I had a coupon for a “take and bake” pizza. One topping. Salami. I added artichoke hearts and mushrooms at home. It was glorious. Half is waiting to be consumed later. Eventually, some tree trimming got accomplished. Tomorrow is supposed to be windy in the afternoon. Sounds like a good day for some wood burning indoors.
Those midyim berries look interesting. We had an Oregon grape bush volunteer 20 years ago. I coddled it for a few years and it is finally spreading. I hope it has enough berries to harvest this year. They’re a bit tart, but I can add them to breads or stews. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berberis_aquifolium#Description
Your photo of the bird drinking from the dogs’ bowl reminded me. It’s time to get out the bird bath and get water in it. Although our seasonal rainfall looks good so far, we are supposed to enter the “hotter than normal and dryer than normal” weather pattern. Snowpacks are less than normal, so drought conditions east of the Cascades will occur soon. Including the Yakima Valley where my brother-in-law lives. Cliff Mass may disagree, but I either inhabit or frequent these areas. This is looking like a possible nasty fire season.
Meanwhile, the tulips are blooming, as are the cherry trees. And the lupine. This blue/purple flower started in one corner of the yard and has spread throughout other parts of both yards. The plant is unique, and the flower is pretty. https://inside.ewu.edu/ewflora/lupinus-lepidus/
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Rock phosphate is like the Holy Grail, often heard about, rarely seen. Hmm. Did you know that down under it comes from some mine up in the state of Queensland? Hehe! Why would you know such esoteric nonsense! 🙂 And they might not export, maybe. Now interestingly, a lot of the global supply used to come from err, ‘Land of the Bear’, you know the one always mentioned in the media – that big one. If a person had the choice of only one mineral amendment, it’d be that mineral. Even the blood and bone meal I bring here in super expensive bags at $65 for a 66 pound bag, has something like only 6% phosphate. Yeah, you’ve touched upon an issue which few folks have yet gotten their heads around, although Claire is far more onto such matters than I. Basically I’m spread too thin and the wallet can’t cover the costs to do what need be done. The area is bigger here and um, I only understood the issue a few years ago (thanks to serious prodding from Claire!) Now if I’d made a head start on this particular mineral a decade ago, life would have been easier now. Oh well. In those days you could get rock phosphate on the cheap. An intriguing issue. If you work it all out, please do let me know?
Yeah, wow, that’s another heady mess of awfulness. I’m fortunately not subjected to such disease advertising, and it’s hard to know if I’d succumb to the worst aspects of it. I might. Who needs to be put to the test?
I’m also wondering about what Kuato will consume during the winter months as well. He’s become rather accustomed to eating a rich diet of super yummies, which won’t be there for him in another two months time. We’ll find out though, and with less leaves on the trees in the orchard, the owls might just pick him off. Owls need to eat too.
Go Petey the opossum! Yeah, the climate is weird here too. It’s hard not to notice that during autumn, some trees produce blossoms. My gut feeling is that the vegetation will adapt readily to a warming climate. But a drier climate could be challenging, as could a super wet climate. Hard to know really.
Pam, I hope not with the friction! 🙂 For your interest, I value harmony, although sometimes this lands me in hot water, mostly because other folks don’t place any value whatsoever on that outcome at all, and can attempt to use it as a wedge. Woe is them, for I’ve read ‘The Art of War’, and took the ancient message to heart. You’d be amazed at what I occasionally have to do. But water moving through pipes is actually subject to the impact of friction, seriously.
Oh my, what wonderful choices of beets, and the Lutz has particularly intrigued me – given we eat a lot of chard leaves. My favourite variety is Globe beet, which is an 1892 heirloom with origins in your country. It’s not a pretty looking root vegetable, but super hardy. I hear you about the golden beets, for all of the reasons you listed. To me the yellow heirloom variety seemed a bit drier too than the red beets. Dunno.
An interesting mix of soil you’ve got there. Have you ever used Mr Diggy to mix in compost into the clay? If I may add, rocks are always useful – and they float through the soils here…
Hehe! Thanks for the lovely story with the frogs. Out of curiosity, what did you end up feeding the frogs? You know, I hear the tree frogs at night calling one to the other, and have no idea how they survived such a dry summer. Although sometimes I’ll find the Mr and Ms Kermit’s swimming in the bees water bowl.
Hey, that’s a great result with the indoor tomatoes. Is it warm enough yet to plant them outside? Usually here, that’s early November (your May).
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Don’t you reckon that the whole point of dog training, is to get the dog to connect with us humans wants and concerns? That particular command was used today on the hapless Ruby who’d been exploring the entrails of some deceased forest critter. At least the dog dropped it, but this is how the Kelpies end up with intestinal worms. If the fox or owl didn’t eat the entrails, they’re probably no good. How hard can it be to get such common sense ideas into a canine? Turns out, dog training is actually quite hard and ever ongoing, as you’d know.
Go your lady to reprimand the boundary pushing husky! Well done. The cheeky scamp, may she drop her tail and ears and sit out a while in the naughty corner. Man, Dame Avalanche knew exactly what she was doing. Some critters are just like plenty of folks, they keep pushing at boundaries, and not for any good reason I can discern.
🙂 Yeah I hear you about that, and they sell a similar seed blend mix of those two species down here. Maybe it’s just me, but the thought pops into the old mind when hearing such stories from your part of the world as well: Hope you guys know what you’re doing? (not you, but the seed companies) Fortunately here there are plenty of the local grasses surviving and thriving. Some of them in the shady areas stayed green right through the summer. Clover is so weedy, it’ll be present in your area anyway, maybe.
Funnily enough, Sunday looks kind of rainy here in the forecast. But we’ll see. The burn off restrictions are lifted on Tuesday, so hopefully we do get some rain. The water pump is a great machine. And yesterday on the way home I picked up a 30m hose and can now finally reach the furtherest oak trees.
Sounds like a fun day, and awesome weather. It’s meant to be 28’C here tomorrow, as you do… Ah, is a ‘take and bake’ pizza a basic ready to go pizza which you add your own toppings too and bake at home? Never heard of such a thing. Yum! Yum! Yum! Were the artichoke hearts preserved in vinegar or anything exotic like that? Hopefully you’re not into breakfast pizza, with such loose talk of ‘later’? Or are you being polite by not mentioning such matters? 🙂 For the record, I’m very much in the minority in not comprehending that early morning meal option. Even Sandra loves breakfast pizza. I’ll stick to muesli, fresh fruit and yoghurt, every, single, time.
You can purchase Oregon grapes down here, and they will fruit, although I’ve never tasted them and appreciated your feedback. Down here the suggested use is jam making, but never tasted that either.
Man, the long term predictions tend to read ‘hotter and drier’, but until the dust settles and time has passed, it’s genuinely hard to know how things will work out, mostly because patterns are shifting. You’re lucky to have such large rivers in your part of the world. But if you reckon the signs in your part of the world portend a difficult summer, well, I tend to respect local knowledge. This year here has been weird, not because of the dry, but more due to the distribution of rainfall. The wet stuff is arriving more in large bursts, then nothing, then large bursts etc…
Lupins are amazing plants aren’t they? Years ago I spotted a large round garden bed given over entirely to lupins which created a crazy, but fun colour combination. Nitrogen fixing plants too. What’s not to like? Are you observing many insects on them, or in your area?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Ah, I like how your brain works, and what’s stored in the water tanks, is not the common gold – as the old timers used to say. 🙂 Funnily enough, the middle and less fashionable end of this small mountain range, was actually named in the mid 19th century by timber getters from your country who’d failed at mining. The original Mad Max was such a delightfully bent and twisted film that it was fun in a demented kind of way.
Petrol would be handy, especially if the folks had remembered to add fuel stabiliser to the stuff. It used to last a whole bunch longer when I was a kid. Dunno.
Speaking of films with unusual and interesting narratives, have you spotted the trailer yet for: Death of a Unicorn is the ultimate horse girl movie. Sounds like an intriguingly weird plot.
I agree, it’s simply safer for everyone if they’re eaten. Think about the matter from a purely pragmatic experience – all we have to do is but outrun the most annoying person. Home safe then, and there might even be slightly less whingeing and risk taking! It’ll be bred out of the population, one t-rex incident at a time.
That’s a fun game you play with H. Dogs love that stuff. The funny thing about dog training is that they’re relentless about not having fun razz-up time with the dogs. Ignore that. I’ve got a fun routine too with the dogs which allows them to get such mischief out of their systems, and then they’re expected to calm right down – which they do. It’d be frowned upon for sure, but I observe the forest critters around here, and from time to time, they play and do stupid things just for the fun of it.
Oh yeah, the bile chuck up. That happens occasionally, but hopefully not too often. It’s a sticky clean-up that stuff.
Ah, I see. Thanks for mentioning Professor Mass’s essay. Hmm, well as someone who is not connected to town water and / or irrigation networks, when the wet stuff does not fall out of the sky, it tends to get dry. And of course, he’s correct, agriculture will probably be fine, but you could make the same claim about say use of desalination plants providing water from elsewhere, which some cities down under rely upon. It’s simply a different way of looking at the matter. There’s plenty of areas which will miss out on the water connections. From all of the images I’ve ever seen, Yakima looks very dry to me by default.
Yeah, you know, I’m the same down here, plant the warm weather crops in early November, your May. If you get them out a few weeks earlier (like now and a week or two ago), and they survive cold snaps, the plants just aren’t that much further ahead than those transplanted outdoors much later. Let’s face it, there just ain’t that much warmth in the sun for those particular plant needs in your area, right now. One year when I’ve got nothing better to do, I’ll put the theory to the test, although it’d be more to prove the point to other folks. We get those sorts of cold early spring nights too, and it just cools the soil way too much for fast plant growth.
Oh far out, man that’s so cold with the hose rating. It’d not even occurred to me that hoses could burst during winter, but yeah, your rating makes a lot of sense when viewed from that perspective. We worry more about the impact of the sun’s UV radiation on the plastic. 🙂 I’ve purchased hoses which lasted less than two years. It’s brutal out there.
Sad to say, but the gentlemanly Ollie’s breed was created to hunt feral pigs up north of the continent. Reject on that front, just sayin… However, I know his personality well enough to realise he could get blooded, so I’ve always restrained him for that reason. I’ve hunted rats with Dame Plum plenty of times that I know she can do the work and stay cool, but Ollie, I dunno about him. Best not to put temptation before the horse, the old timers may have quipped. 🙂 Always fun to mix metaphors!
Exactly, that was what I was thinking about with the equipment. My mind works differently, like when the farm machine repair dude died, I simply began the long slow process of learning how to repair and maintain all this stuff. I’ll tell you a funny story I heard from long ago. Back in the oil crisis of the early 70’s, people looked to firewood as a heating fuel (and plenty of the stuff still gets used today). There was a boom in fabricating wood heaters, and the best of those businesses are still going today. Hmm.
Maybe your maple dudes will start repairing what they do already have, and getting local fabricators to make up and/or modify the rest. People can get creative once the throw-away mentality is dropped. I’m realistic though, plenty of stuff we use now was never made to be repaired.
Hey, on that walnut note, I neglected to mention that the chocolate cake was pretty good, but could have skipped the walnuts. By the way, those are one difficult tree to get started. I’ve killed more than a few walnut trees, and probably should track down a black walnut variety instead – they’re probably hardier. The other day I drove past a local property which has a sizable chestnut orchard, and the sulphur crested cockatoos were all over the trees. What a nightmare, but there was a roadside stall, so maybe plenty of nuts were harvested as well? Dunno.
When I was a kid, I don’t recall anyone with a nut allergy, although they may have all died.
Yes, it is almost mushroom season here, and I spotted some today, probably super deadly, and the rainy period is still about four or five days away. Yikes! Will keep Dame Plum on a short leash for a while once that arrives.
The names are confusing, and there are so many rabbit holes. So there I was reading about Rædwald, when who should pop up into the minds attention, none other than Bede. A very interesting person. And there’s some new folks I’d not heard of before: The Jutes.
🙂 There’s software which is useful to map out the relationships created by the author Mr Martin. Some fans have put such maps together, and a quick glimpse produced a massive headache – why go there becomes the most important question of all? To be honest, I have not watched the series, but read the books and the mind glossed over such details and simply enjoyed the narrative flow. The author penned a very delightful tale of a tricksy monster in a Jack Vance-ian world a few years ago, and the lack of the need for the relationship software was a palpable relief! Hehe! You’ve mentioned the fans issue before and far out, the purists would frighten the daylights out of me. You’d need a team of fact checkers pouring over the story, and even then they’d miss stuff which super fans would pick up on. What a nightmare scenario.
Meanwhile in less hallowed ground, we moved two peach trees today into the citrus enclosure. Hopefully the relocated plants don’t baulk at the indignities heaped upon them? The soil I removed them from was very dry. Oh well. But other than that short break, I was smashed with paid work today. It’s nice to be wanted and of perceived value to the community. Had some ideas to market the business too. I guess ideas float to the surface when the time is right for such activities.
That’s very funny, yes, dense conglomerations of consonants to send us all loopy!
I guess the Scottish play was about that very subject, or it could also have equally been about the inability to simply enjoy one’s good fortune and perquisites?
Agreed, they do natural disasters big, in Japan. But then I must talk carefully and slowly when it comes to landslides and other mountainous disasters, lest we tempt hubris. 🙂 Ook!
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Mad Max was mad fun. The sequels weren’t bad, either. Although there was a low budget, on-a-shoestring vibe to the first one, that I can only describe as “clean.”
I thought I had mentioned “Death of a Unicorn.” Billed as a comedy / horror film. I’m looking forward to seeing it. Speaking of movies, I put “Die Hard” on hold the other night. I’m sure you know, there was a “Die Hard 2.” Also a Christmas film. 🙂 I didn’t put that on hold, as, my hold list is so tight it squeaks! I see the Nick Frost movie “Get Away,” is in transit to me. I’ll probably pick it up, either today or Saturday. Popcorn will be made.
Thinking of the dog trainers, who don’t believe in playing with your dog. I ran across a bit of business the other day, from some bread maven. He is appalled that people name their sourdough. I mean, he ranted on for quit awhile about that. If and when I get mine going, I’m naming it Fred. 🙂
Oh, I’m sure your forest critters play. I’ll not forget the parrot, taking a spin on your merry-go-round vent fan.
Well, they don’t call it the Dry Side of the Mountains, for nothin’! I haven’t really been to Yakima, although when I was a wee small lad, we visited some shirt-tail relations, over there. I remember hot and dry.
I was going to do some weeding in the garden, yesterday, but the dumpster was full 🙁 . But, I watered and spent some time rounding up kitchen scraps, and getting them ready to give them a proper burial.
So Dame Plume has “skills.” Ollie, not so much. Oh, well. Still worth his kibble. A doggie that size, still makes a statement.
Gee, it sounds like the Sulfur Crested Cockatoos are a pain, all way around. Sooner or later, a bit of bird flu will thin them out.
There are theories, as to why nut allergies, and allergies in general, are on the rise. Might be different, in different cases. Parents are so paranoid, these days, that they don’t feed their small kids nuts, at all. So, they don’t develop a resistance to the allergins. Gluten sensitivities, on the other hand, are probably due to how grain is milled, and all the preservatives and fast risers, used in baking. We’ve talked before about how in general, people might just be too clean, these days. And, who can forget this scene from the movie, “Kindergarten Cop 2?” 3 minutes.
https://youtu.be/fhdWfzXCP9E?si=pV23-shSCqw9Bgd9
Our high yesterday was 68F (20C). The overnight low was 34F (1.11C). Our forecast high for today is 65F. We may get a bit of rain on Sunday, but that’s pretty far out there. And the forecast calls for not much. I’ll have to nag the Master Gardeners, next Monday, to start irrigating the blueberries. I took a walk, down to look at them. There are clusters of blossoms, here and there. But nothing like last year. With this nice weather, they ought to get pollinated.
Bede is a problem if you’re a King Arthur aficionado. 🙂 He doesn’t mention Arthur. But then again, he overlooked more than one well known person, for that time period.
Well, market away. But do you know, at what point, to turn away clients? To preserve your own sanity. 🙂
I stopped down to the yuppie discount store, last night. You may remember, last week, it was a ghost town, due to the new store opening. More cars in the parking lot, this time. Novelty wears off, fast. But something new. They have a “greeter” at the door. I don’t know if you have them down there. The Store of Walls is notorious for them. Usually, a semi-retired or marginally disabled person. They’re the info person, to point you in the right direction. And, as a shop lifting deterrent.
I saw an article yesterday, that the Big Coffee Company (whose sales have been plunging), is instituting a dress code. They’ve always had their workers in distinctive green aprons, but now are trying to regulate what they wear under them. Is that the best they can come up with, as a pathetic attempt to boost sales? Perhaps they should go with “no visible tattoos or outrageous piercings.” But then I’m an old poop 🙂 .
I’ve had to contend with dress codes, over the years. As I’m sure you have. Some were as simple as “neat, clean and tidy.” Some were micro-managed. But for guys, at least, it was often a simple “dress shirt and tie.” Hair, facial or otherwise, was often a point of contention. Although only twice in my long and checkered job history, did the beard come up. Both times, I refused to cut it, and accommodations were made. One doesn’t have to roll over, all the time. As some employers are finding out. 🙂 Lew
Yo, Chris – I thought of this ear worm, just after signing off. apropos to our last topic of conversation. Just over 2 minutes.
https://youtu.be/gj2iGAifSNI?si=s4PnxN89ae3Y4gT9
The comments are … enlightening. :-). Lew
Chris:
The rock phosphate that I used to buy was called Tennessee Rock Phosphate, so it didn’t come from the land of the bear. Wonder what’s going on in Tennessee. I’m afraid my wallet is in the same shape as yours . . .
I’m not sure an owl can lift Kuato, even if he is somewhat inert.
Oh – water and friction. I didn’t read enough of The Art of War, so I am still ignorant.
Ooh – I will try to grow Globe beets next year. I have ordered seeds so many times this season, that I just don’t want to place any more orders (that wallet again). They just don’t carry many varieties in the stores here. However, I do have one last order still pending: Buckwheat Seed. I like to put a bit of buckwheat flour in the gluten-free bread that I make. I have grown buckwheat as a cover crop before; it did really well. I started thinking that I might be able to grow enough just to add a little to my dough. I have been reading about how to get the hulls off. That is always the tricky part.
Mr. Diggy (CAT 955) seems too big to me to be useful for mixing soil, at least on the tight, steep property that we have; I really don’t know. He is good at digging, of course, and he can carry large loads and downed trees that weigh tons (Mr. Diggy himself weighs 36 tons), but I don’t think he’s a good mixer. Tractorzilla (John Deere tractor with backhoe and grapple) is the mixer and my son has spent a lot of this week working on him, has pretty much replaced all his parts, but can’t find the secret as to why he won’t start.
I fed the tadpoles lettuce, maybe a few weeds.
We have at least another two weeks till we can plant. It is supposed to be 38F (3.3C) tonight and most of my tomato plants are still very small since I had to replant, so I may wait until we are into May.
Pam
Chris,
Dame Avalanche is sneaky quick on our walks. She’ll see something I don’t see and, even though she is on the leash, it gets into her mouth. Fortunately, “Drop it!” has yet to fail. The command of last resort, used with all of my dogs, is to say loudly and firmly, “Hup!” Almost, but not quite at yell volume. Never trained any of the dogs with that command, they just somehow know what it means in different situations and do what I want.
Well, there was one time with Rakhi the Samoyed. Postman came by or something, and she got the barks. And couldn’t quit. Nothing worked. I couldn’t even catch her to get her into the house. Then he came by on the other side of the street and she was almost frantic in her barking. None of the redirects worked. Even up!” was a failure. I was at the end of my rope when she caught my eye…there was such a frustrated look in her eyes, it was almost a voice saying, “Papa, I’m trying to stop barking but I can’t. Help me, please.” So I told her in a gentle voice that everything was okay, she dropped onto the ground, rolled over on her back, and got a long belly rub. All was sorted out that way, and she never got the barks like that again.
Yup, what Avalanche tried to do with the Princess Dinner, well, she knew. But basic animal instinct took over. Boundaries were pushed. Humans, being animals, will push boundaries too…
Your picking up another 30m of hose reminded me. I had to toss one of the hoses last year. It had worn out and had developed several cracks and leaks. It was supposed to last for maybe 3 to 5 years. I got 12 years of use out of it. Can’t complain, I guess.
Yup, the “take and bake” was prepared when I ordered it. More toppings can be added at home. I had a coupon for a large single topping, which amounted to about 50% off. Then I added the veggies and had three feasts out of the deal. And yes, the artichoke hearts are in some type of marinade which features some type of oil, vinegar and various spices. Very yummy. I had some of those in a bowl with cherry tomatoes and some sliced jalapeno pepper with dinner tonight.
Heck no, I’m not gonna be polite about breakfast pizza! What’s wrong with breakfast pizza? (The Princess, however, is in wholehearted agreement with you.) If it’s possible to have breakfast pancakes for dinner, why can’t I have dinner pizza for breakfast? Sadly, I knew one person who would put leftover pizza in the refrigerator and place a beer on the counter. Dinner had been hot pizza and cold beer. That person would actually have cold pizza and WARM beer for breakfast. I totally draw the line there. No warm beer!
This winter and early spring have been different than the past few versions. We’ve had rain spread through February and March and the first week of April. The past few years, starting in early February, there would be 3 to 5 days of rain then nothing until March. Then 3 or so days of rain and nothing for 4 weeks. June, on average, gets more rain than May here, but in those years June rainfall was as abysmal as July rainfall. So, I totally understand your situation with the rainfall: all you get for the month comes in one batch. That’s very disconcerting here, even with city water services. I’d be going bonkers in your situation. Or else I’d add a bunch more water tanks like you did.
Yes, lupins are awesome. Haven’t noticed any bugs on them yet, but I haven’t really been looking either. I remember soon after we’d moved to Spokane, dad took us on a day trip to Mount Spokane. Nice hiking trails back then. We came across a large meadow that was full of lupin and Indian paintbrush. The blue/purple of the lupin highlighted by the red is a spectacular sight I’ll never forget.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castilleja
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Well, sanctions upon the land of the Bear caused ructions in global supply, and you and I are minor players who’s demands are easily ignored… 🙂 Incidentally, we have heaps of the mineral down under, it’s just an awful long way from anywhere (which seriously adds to the costs). At some point the economics of extraction make no sense. Here’s how things look down here, and if I may say so, if the stuff is being mined, it is probably because the economics stack up, otherwise it stays in the ground. All eyes on north-west Queensland’s Georgina Basin to ease global fertiliser shortages. Haven’t seen an update for a long while, and perhaps this is why food prices are on the up?
Ah ha! Powerful Owls have this zombie like taste for the possum brains, which are probably high in fat I’m guessing. I learned this story the hard way when encountering the results in an inner city park many long years ago. To be honest, the thought at the time: ‘pyscho’, popped into my mind, but no, it was just the owls doing their thing.
🙂 There were some not so useful details in the ancient treatise, so not to worry about skipping a chunk here and there of a lot of the text, unless you’ve got some desire to become a minor warlord in your area? I’d trust your leadership.
Oh my! Hey, I worry about those sorts of issues too. How many varieties of beets can a person grow, and they cross out if you save the seeds. Of late, and I’m unsure of your approach (and would be interested to learn), but I tend to stick to one or two open pollinated varieties of plants and try to grow lots of them. Maybe from time to time I’ll bring in a hybrid variety to add vigour to the genetics. But honestly, it’s hard to know, and the entire process would be much simpler if all the neighbours were growing and saving their own seeds. But no, I reckon those minds are on other matters.
You know, I’ve never grown buckwheat, and probably should. Do the seeds taste good when added to dough? I’ve heard of buckwheat pancakes and the idea intrigues me. Traditional bread wheat won’t grow well here due to the cooler climate (it was a sad looking plant when trialled). The Indigenous folks had a sort of rough line on the continent between growing tubers or grains, and that division makes a lot of sense. Of course, I’m very much deep into the tuber area. Potatoes make me nervous for historical reasons.
I hear you about that, de-hulling is always a difficult process. Hey, we harvested the carob pods, but have yet to work out what to do with them? So much to learn, so little time.
Whoa, those half century old CAT 955’s cost a pretty penny down here. What a fine machine (and I’d seriously put the beast to good use cleaning the surrounding forest). Super jealous! 🙂 Sorry to hear that Tractorzilla is being of a naughty disposition, and am sending you positive energy for your son to tame the wild monster and get the blasted thing working.
That’s my view on the world too. Wait two weeks. The same rough rules apply here as well during October. I doubt the end makes much difference in the end.
Took today mostly off work!
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Dogs are pretty smart, and down here a similar command to your ‘Hup!’ (which I also use because it sounds natural) is ‘Hey!’ The local dog trainers prefer we use the proper Queen’s, oh no, sorry, King’s English and instead yell the command: ‘No!’ The reasoning behind the advice is that ‘Hey!’ or ‘Hup!’ for that matter sounds too ‘country’. Like where do they think we all live? 🙂
My opinion on this matter is that the canines know they’re pushing at boundaries and are in fact waiting for and testing the correction from the pack leader. Should we disappoint the naughty pooches? I think not.
However, I have never spoken to a dog in anger. Dogs have this weird uncanny ability to read the emotional state of the pack, and anger is one of the emotions which leads them to distrust a pack leader. Anyway, the Sensei alerted me to this reality in a very publicly humiliating process when I was in my late teens. Man, there are moments when your life pivots upon a crucial point and then things are no longer ever the same. The formidable dude forced me to face myself. The issue has been very much on my mind this week due to a business incident I’m unable to write about. Watching someone lose their shit is not pretty, and there were unexpected consequences for them, and sadly, everyone involved. Oh well.
That was a true gift for the over stimulated Rahki. A firm stroking of a dogs fur can work wonders in calming them down. Did you know, that it’s an old cattleman’s trick with canines?
Yes, pushing at boundaries. It does seem to be the way with humans as well. Hmm. Part of what I’ve had to learn over my life is when and how to respond to such actions. Sun Tzu’s long dead advice was useful in that regard. I’m sure you know what I mean?
That’s a pretty good lifespan for your hose to make it to a dozen years from such low expectations. Man, I’ve seen the sun do similar tricks in only a couple of years. It’s a waste of mad cash. It was 29’C here today, and the new 30m hose was put to good use. Leaking hoses are no good.
What an amazing pizza concept. Truly, I’ve never heard of this before. Dude, listen to your lady! Respect to her lovely self as well, breakfast pizza is just not right. 🙂 And now you’ve also ventured into a perennial Australian joke about our English forebears: Warm beer. At least here we can agree on the disgusting subject. It ain’t right. 😉 Beer must be served cold, although seriously dark ales can be room temperature, but that’s a different drink.
Yeah, the distribution of rainfall is a bit of a nightmare this year. Anyway, it looks like rain will return from Sunday, so fingers crossed. Hey, we’ve gotten down to only 25,000L left, which is candidly not much. As a minor side story, I mentioned this lack of water reserves today to a local bloke and we had a bit of a laugh about which to choose: Plants or Bathing? Ook! Your season sounds pretty decent so far, and hopefully this will put you in good stead for the coming summer weather? The new water tanks have 11,000L storage, but trust me, this will make a difference.
Might do more of the water pipe work over the next couple of Easter days. Because of the leaf change tourism, we tend to hunker down at this time of year.
Lupins are super hardy, so I doubt the insects will be a problem for them – being able to capture nitrogen from the atmosphere gives the health of the plant an advantage. Those are beautiful plants, and the combination sounded spectacular. Meadows are wonderful places full of life where the forest critters come to eat. 🙂
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Thanks for the music, and yes, it encapsulates the mood perfectly. My personal preference is to resist change, but long ago an older bloke sat me down and gave some good advice which was along the lines of: “Chris. You’ve gotta work out how much shit you’re gonna put up with.” Before that moment, it’d never occurred to me that there was an optional component to the situation, and he’s right too, there is that aspect. And oh yeah, thanks for the earworm. You’re a perceptive soul. 🙂 And agreed, the comments are enlightening about the overall work experience people endure. What are we all fighting for again? Fortunately most of my experiences have been good, but some are stand-outs for all the wrong reasons. I’m sure you know what I mean? One mob berated me for not working hard enough when I’d been doing late nights and weekends – that was a truly weird experience. And they were manipulators.
Oh yeah, the original Mad Max film was raw. The catering budgets for films these days probably cost more than that entire film did. 🙂 Clean is a lovely way to put it. And thanks for the correction, for you did mention the unicorn film only a couple of weeks ago. Sorry about that, the old brain is a bit rattled this week!
Took the day off work today, well mostly off work anyway. In small business, one never truly rests. Headed north to visit the cold store. Picked up some apples, honey, and had a nice relaxing lunch. Feeling refreshed this evening, it being the night before the Easter break – not that I get paid for public holidays… And may have to do some work during that time. 🙂 Oh well, mustn’t grumble.
Anyway, the unicorn film sounds truly deranged, it’s gotta be great. It’s not showing in the local cinema, oh well. I’ll look forward to your review of Die Hard, and I really enjoyed the story. It should hold up well too. One in this instance may be enough. The second instalment seemed more of the same, but biggerer.
Fred is a great name for a sour dough starter. Hmm, the ever delightful rogue, sadly now taken from our midst, Anthony Bourdain, recounted a very amusing yeast story which may violate the code of conduct here – but was totally funny. There’s a very clever and talented DJ with the name: ‘Fred Again’. That name would work too, and maybe even better? 🙂 Have you considered submitting the name to the ranty bloke for approval?
The birds do that fun trick on the whirly bird all the time. It’s probably like going to the carnival rides for them.
Funnily enough, being hot and dry would make that eastern side area pretty productive growing space, as long as you can access the water. Always risky. Trust me about that. We’re down to about 6,500 gallons of water left. The plan is for the skies to deliver rain on Sunday. Reality may be different.
That’s funny, thanks for the laughs. I hope you remembered to mumble the appropriate rites when the kitchen scraps were finally laid to rest? Nobody wants zombie vegetables if you skipped or stumbled over the correct words, you never know.
Exactly. Dame Plum lifts the average, whilst Ollie sends a strong message. There have been some moments over the years here when you realise just how far away assistance can be. Hmm. Of course, I’m a fast learner and those people are foolish to train me.
I don’t think so man. Those large white birds with the silly yellow hair do’s will be the last ones left standing. And they’ll still be grumpy and up to mischief.
Hey, I spotted flowers on the oldest Loquat tree today. Never seen those before, and hope Kuato doesn’t eat them. He’s of a grumpy disposition too.
Whoa! The peanut butter and jelly sandwich scene was intense, and not because of the contents, but all the screaming! Thanks for that. 🙂 I like peanuts, and tree nuts. Yum! Too bad for the kids, more for me. Actually, I mentioned this to you before, but one year we grew peanuts and Sir Poopy ate them all. I’m sure he had similar thoughts: Too bad for me, more for him. Life is very circular and full of synchronicities don’t you reckon?
Your weather sounds nice. It was 84’F here today, and quite pleasant. And those overnight lows of yours will cool the soils right down for heat loving plants, mostly because that happens here too. Some years are just better for production. How did the blueberries recover from the err, unexpected heavy pruning job of a while ago?
I see, Bede may have had his own reasons for ignoring King Arthur, although memories back then were much closer to the actual events.
Absolutely! We don’t take on just anybody. I’m more thinking about having back up plans, it’s a bad habit of mine to do so. Rest assured, my sanity is fine, or so they tell me! But then, what do they really know? And do they know anything? 😉 You said truth to me years ago: It ain’t paranoia if it’s true!
Um, only the big box hardware store (and some large chain stores) have store greeters. To be honest, I don’t actually like being greeted at the store being an introvert and stuff. I’d rather slink past the greeter unacknowledged, and that would make me very happy. Presumably extroverts love that stuff, and may engage the greeter people in conversation? Years ago I used to have a friend who was an extrovert and I was always deeply uncomfortable at his over familiarity with people in businesses. It was like he was trying to pick them up for a date, far out! But yeah, there is the shop lifting deterrent aspect of that job.
I thought you meant that there’d be a dress code for customers, like no collar, no entry and stuff. I’ve never been inclined to get a tattoo, but have no problems with other folks doing so. Over Christmas lunch I had a brief chat with a young lady who had regretted hers and was in the process of getting them removed. Apparently it hurts worse. Yep, we’re all getting on in years. Can’t be helped, but if you learn any secret knowledge in that regard, don’t hesitate to share it. 😉
Man, my first office job was a suit and tie requirement. Because I was young and dumb, I turned up wearing jeans, shirt, tie and a jacket. It looked cool. Sure. Well yeah but, getting told off on the first day of a job is probably not a good beginning, and may have set the tone for the future.
Can’t believe they cracked it about the beard. At least they backed off. And exactly, you don’t have to roll over, just because you’re asked too. There’s an old saying about ‘not sweating the small stuff’, but not everyone adheres to the spirit of that message, as you’d no doubts have also experienced?
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – It’s really interesting that people don’t see the optional components in situations. Not to say I haven’t had my fair share of “Duh!” moments. 🙂 I’d always tell young readers, if they didn’t like a book (unless it was a school assignment), just throw it back and pick something else out. Don’t like a particular AA meeting? Pick another one. In a toxic relationship? End it. Family dragging you down? Leave. I think people maybe don’t consider the optional , because decisions need to be made, and, sometimes, there’s a bit of initial pain. That was a wise old bloke.
Equally weird is when you’re told you’re working too hard, and making the other employees look bad. Actually happened at a library branch I worked at. I just gave them what a friend used to call “the fish eye,” and continued on my productive path. Besides, I got to go home early, when I completed all my tasks. 🙂
Speaking of honey, I started looking through a new book I picked up at the library. Probably won’t read it, cover to cover, but there’s a lot of pictures and I’m dipping in, here and there. “The World Atlas of Honey.” (Marchese, 2024.) Fascinating book. Who knew there were honey sommeliers? 🙂 There’s a stingless bee, in Mexico, that constructs its honey combs in a spiral. Like the inside of a sea shell. Beautiful! And then it covers every country in the world, that has bees, and makes honey. And the constructed hives! Wow! So many interesting forms.
You’ve been holding out on me. 🙁 In the Australian section, they mentioned what’s described as a “dessert for children.” Honey Crackles.” Corn flakes, rolled in butter and honey and then baked until crispy. You know, there are boxes and boxes of corn flakes, languishing down on the community room swap table. Hmmm. Ohhh! There’s recipes on-line.
The food-o-sphere abounds with rampant yeast stories. The recent book I read by Alton Brown tells a story of when he was a young bloke, working in a pizza parlor. Something about a batch of dough he has screwed up, and he thought he had covered his crime. Until the yeast devoured the pizza parlor dumpster. Remember the movie “The Blob?” 🙂
I do hope we get to see the Loquat flowers, in your next post.
Who can forget Sir Poopy and the Peanuts? Might make a good children’s book. 🙂 Now that he’s gone on to his just reward, you might give them another whirl. In a more protected spot. H, who usually wolfs down peanut butter, gave it a sample nibble, the other night, and then turned up her nose at the rest. A waste of good peanut butter, and kibble. 🙁
Our high yesterday was 64F (17.77C). The overnight low was 32F (-0-C). But only for about an hour. Forecast high for today is 68F. As with you, we may get a bit of rain, on Sunday. I worked in the garden, for a couple of hours, last night. Weeded out another bed and scattered around some mushroom compost. Watered. One more bed to weed out. Then I can start all over, again. 🙂
Time will tell, with the blueberries. I don’t think it will be as good a crop, as last year. Luckily, the five bushes in back were missed. And they have always produced a bumper crop.
Sanity? I love that line from “the Big Bang Theory.” Sheldon: “I am not crazy. Mother had me tested.”
Aging. Judith Viorst is an amusing author. She’s in her 90s. She’s got a new book coming out (it’s on my hold list) titled, “Making the Best of What’s Left: When You’re Too Old to Get the Chairs Reupholstered.” I might pick up some handy tips.
The last time I was asked to cut my beard, for a job (I’d already been hired), I said, “I’ve only cut my beard for job, once before. And the people weren’t worth working for.” They decided to just keep me out of the way, if someone from the home office showed up.
I had an interesting thought, the other day. Maybe I read too much history. There’s chatter coming out of D.C., about shipping off citizens. No one has used the word, yet, but what crossed my mind was “exile.” A time honored tradition, that goes back millennia.
I think I mentioned that since Gene Hackman, the actor died, the library has stocked up on some of his old films. Last night, I watched “The Poseidon Adventure.” Held up, pretty well. It was really the first big disaster flick, and they had a hard time getting it filmed, as the Hollywood big wigs just didn’t think it would fly (so to speak.) It made buckets of money, so a whole series of disaster films, followed.
Made my oatmeal (three days worth) and fruit, today. Made rice, yesterday. Chop wood, carry water. 🙂 I dislike it when they both fall on the same day. After lunch, yesterday was a chocolate day, so, today is a walnut day. “Like sand through an hourglass…” Lew
Chris:
No wonder I can’t find rock phosphate. Probably what we produce in this country has been shifted to large agricultural production, nothing left for the home gardener. Thanks for the article.
Never having considered myself in the role of minor warlord (warlady? wardame?), I decided that it might not do me much good to read all of The Art of War. Heck, I didn’t even want to be a CEO; it might have been useful for that.
What you said about varieties of each crop, is what I agree with. Maybe 3 kinds of peppers/chillis and 4 kinds of tomatoes, but for most things, 2 is usually enough. Hmm, more than 2 kinds of melons and squash and – ah ha! – 3 kinds of radishes and lettuce. Actually, if I keep thinking, I can’t resist a whole lot of variety. I always used to save the seeds from everything, too, had to let it go for a couple of years. I’ll be doing that again this year if anything survives the groundhog, rats, squirrels, bugs, etc. We might add hail, drought, and floods . . .
I love buckwheat pancakes, haven’t made them since I had to go gluten free so long ago. I can sort of make gluten free sandwich bread, so I should be able to do pancakes. I’m just lazy; one has to make all those small “cakes”, though they freeze well. Potatoes make me wary for the same historical reason you gave, but I sure do love them.
Thank you for the positive energy! And glad you got a bit of a break.
Pam
Chris,
“Hey” and “Hup” are too country? Bwahaha! Even some of us who live in the city are only a generation away from being mountain folk. Heck, both of dad’s parents were born in Appalachia, then they lived in the country or mountains for a long time near Los Angeles. I grew up on the edge of town, had a lot of hills to roam, pine forests to wander through, plus the river a stone’s throw away. “Hey” and “Hup” just come natural like. Along with a few other words and phrases that speakers of the “King’s English” wouldn’t appreciate. Hmmm, for that matter, neither did my sister. Oh well.
The happiest canines I’ve been around all knew their boundaries and limits. Testing their boundaries seems to be a game…and the dog loses something when the human doesn’t uphold the limits. Test the limits, human enforces limits, the dogs seem to be happier and much more relaxed. Not too different for people when you think about it.
Some humans can sense the emotional state of situations. Uncontrolled anger causes everyone to be ill at ease or worse. “Tension so thick you could cut it with a knife” comes to mind for those situations. And dogs pick up on emotions so much quicker than most humans. Totally disrupts them, too.
“Did you know, that it’s an old cattleman’s trick with canines?” Thanks. Learned something here. Cool.
Yeah, I think I know that Sun Tzu idea. Hard to put it into practice. All’s I know is that, for me at least, the best thing to do is often…
nothing. Quite a bit of what I remember from Sun Tzu was to do nothing unless your success was almost a guarantee. Hard to put into practice sometimes.
Warm beer sucks. Period. And the dark ales? I prefer them cold also, but they’re not horrid warm like pale ales and beers are. Our refrigerator in Alaska couldn’t keep the beer cold enough. The Princess knew when I was due home from university, so she often placed a beer or two outside our apartment door about 15 minutes before I was due home. That was enough to make anything cold in those frigid temperatures.
Dang, too warm these past few weeks, mostly. With the wet March we had, the grass got long. I had to mow grass in April. That’s been rare here. Now I can spray more weeds with vinegar, get to planting the new grass seed next week.
DJSpo
Hi DJ,
Always fun to consider our roots. Go back not all that far, and our ancestors were most likely described as subsistence farmers, although only the bravest of the brave would use such loose language around border clan folk! 🙂 Hey, my grandfather grew up on a farm during the Great Depression, and that was a tough-as drought period as well down here (as in your country as well). And my mother (and her mother for that matter) was clearly of the mindset that such humble beginnings were best relegated to the past, so likewise would have frowned on such language as well. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to social climb, it just isn’t a competitive sport I’m much interested in. Tell you a funny story, as an adult I’m able to look back on my grandfather’s journey with a somewhat more sympathetic eye – he chose his wife poorly, but then the old fella may have been social climbing, just sayin… You don’t see such things when you’re young and dumb.
Well yeah, that’s a great point, and upon reflection I agree with you. Hadn’t quite thought of the boundary testing that way, but yeah – the dogs are testing to see whether you’re (referring to all of us humans) still a good leader. Hmm. But yes, it’s astounding how dog training can hold a mirror up to ourselves and our interactions with our fellow humans.
Ah, sadly, one of the reasons I enjoy living a quiet life out in the forest is that my set of senses includes an eerie ability to discern emotional states and motivations in other people. As a kid hyper-sensitivity to that was a survival tactic (i.e. know when to make yourself scarce) It’s rarely been to my advantage to share such insights in real time with other people. Exactly, there is a lot of truth to air so thick you could cut it with a knife. You’d be amazed, some folks genuinely seethe with rage floating just below the surface, and I tend to avoid them mostly because it’s been the wiser path to do so. If I may add, the motivators for that state are usually: fear, guilt and uncertainty. To display anger, is to display weakness – that’s part of what my Sensei pounded into the young thick skull. Might recount that story in full this week. Hmm.
And dogs read the room too, and likewise make themselves scarce. 🙂 Dunno about you, but I generally have good relations with other species. Today, I spent hours down in the large citrus enclosure weeding around the young fruit trees, and the magpies were hanging around getting under foot and waiting for their chance to score easy grubs. It’s worth noting though, that some cats and dogs are a bit err, ‘off’ due to the same reasons some folks are like that too.
My, but we’re getting deep here!
Do you reckon the firm stroking pat would work with Dame Avalanche? It calms the Kelpies and Ollie down. They can so easily get razzed up, and there are only some times when that is acceptable canine behaviour and I’m consistent with that time with them. Do dogs love their patterns or what? 🙂
Doing nothing is a great option, and man I didn’t learn that possibility until I was a young adult. I’m also a believer of doing the unexpected, and the long dead genius of strategy suggested that option too. Well, agreed, it is hard, and sometimes there are no winning possibilities. What to do then becomes the question? Hmm.
Man, we’re of one mind here, warm beer is a major travesty. There’s no getting around it. But some cultures do favour that outcome. It ain’t right… My brain now hurts, how can a refrigerator in Alaska not work? The compressor would barely have to do anything. How is that even possible? I sense a mystery there.
Too warm here as well. At 7pm it’s still 22’C. Like what the? Such a truly weird growing season, but what’s interesting is that the annual plants are dying back and the fruit trees that do, are going deciduous. It can’t be the temperature because even the overnight lows have been high, so they must be responding to reduced sunlight hours.
Cheers
Chris
Hi Pam,
Yeah, that’s what’s going on down here with phosphates, so I don’t doubt that the same holds true in your country. It all changed a few years ago when sanctions were imposed on the bear. As far as I can ascertain, the next best source of phosphate at our sort of level, is blood and bone meal – which is rendered animal carcasses. Yes, everything including the squeak! An unappealing stink for vegetarians, I can assure you.
As a fun side story, I used to work for a steel distributor, and their site was just down the road from the rendering plant. The stink during some summer days when the wind blew from the west, was notable. It probably didn’t help that there was a sheepskin drying plant nearby as well. The winds were redolent with stench some days, but once the initial shock wore off, the senses soon adapted.
To be honest, if for some unlikely weird reason there was a zombie apocalypse, us gardeners would be best advised to get our own poop back into the soils. Phosphate I reckon is one of those minerals which would be depleted rapidly, and down here the stuff is already in short supply in the ancient soils.
Oh, I kind of like the sound of Wardame! Sounds powerful, and would most likely be someone who you’d do your utmost not to annoy. Of course, you’d use your powers for good, maybe! Hehe! 🙂 And yeah, that’s the circles the book used to float around in too. It was a bit fad-ish for a while, but now largely forgotten. People may tell you otherwise, but there is little difference other than scale between running a household, a company, or a country.
Can you grow really large peppers (I believe they’re described as bell peppers) in your garden? Even in the greenhouse here they’ll struggle, and the only reliable variety is a tiny little sort we’ve trialled the past couple of years. Tasty, but small. Chili’s seem much hardier to cooler climates.
Oh my! That’s a lot of if’s. Fingers crossed that your skills overcome all of the uncertainty and many a seed gets saved. Plus, if I may say so, the seed you save, is the seed you don’t have to fork out mad cash for in future years… 😉
🙂 Pam, I so hear you about the effort involved in all this stuff. Hmm. What to do? One foot in front of the other is generally how journeys are begun, or that’s what I’m told. I’m seriously intrigued by buckwheat as it would be a grain which would grow well here. Just got to fix the fencing on the large enclosure to exclude, rabbits, deer, wallabies and wombats. The rats there, I can’t do much about those pesky twitchy nosed rodents.
Yeah, that’s the thing with potatoes, you know they’ll let you down sooner or later, but when? That’s the important question. It might assist matters if we began selecting for open pollinated varieties because the potatoes produce seed here. Dunno. Another mystery.
Had another warm day today. Shh, don’t tell the puritans but I had to do some paid work today. They’re not reading here, maybe… Spent a lot of hours clearing weeds and grass away from the young fruit trees in that large citrus enclosure. It was hot work. They tell me that it may rain Sunday onwards. We’ll see. It’s dry out there right now.
How are you going with the recent rain?
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
He was an interesting bloke in a business I’d worked at very long ago. He’d not really warmed to my supervisor either, and wasn’t causing trouble or anything like that because he had no interactions with the supervisor, he was merely giving me a different way of looking at the world. Not considering the un-thought-of optional path often stems from being drilled from a young age to accept whatever is put in front of you. There’s a point in time where that lesson becomes invalid and worse, a burden. Breaking free and becoming your own person is one of the challenges in life which we humans face.
And I agree with you, all those decisions do come with pain, but then so to does maintaining the status quo, so a person has to weigh up which works best for them. There’s a heavy drilling which goes on from a young age to accept things as they are, but that didn’t really work for me, mostly because the costs are too high. But yeah, it’s a ‘Doh!’ moment for sure when you realise that you don’t have to put up with poop.
Whoa! Now that is a situation I’d not encountered, although the Editor has. Like that description of yours: ‘fish eye’! Fun stuff. For your interest, the Editor had to fill in on a bul#sh$t job where there were only a couple of hours per week to achieve. Bizarrely, the situation turned out badly for the Editor who was removed and the job continued that way. So weird. Nobody likes candid opinions… 🙂
How does one get that job: the honey sommelier? They’ve got similar bees down here, but they live further north on the continent. The winters are just too cold for them to survive at this location. Stingless too, I’d call that a bonus! The hives of those other varieties of bees look great, yup: Tetragonula carbonaria. The bees will be fine and adapt, it’s just whether us humans can harvest the levels of honey that we’re expecting to nab.
Funny! I’m not holding out on you, it’s just I haven’t thought of those tasty treats for forty years or more. 🙂 Trust me, after the initial concerns are navigated (what are these things?), those treats will disappear. They’re easy enough to make. Are you going to give a batch a go? It’ll be interesting to hear what your taste testers have to say about them.
The blob in yeast form! I’d hate to think what they’d been chucking in the dumpster for that to happen? On that note though, the coffee grounds I pick up are sometimes already being consumed by fungi (yeasts) if the contents become too moist. The stuff has a weird yellow, orange and pink hue. Seems harmless enough, although people would freak out if they saw it. 🙂 Don’t scare the little kiddies, and hipsters!
I’ll try and remember to take a photo of the Loquat flowers – they’re like the blob too at this stage. Strange looking things. I suspect the rats might eat them, which is why I’m not getting any fruit from that tree. Fortunately I planted other Loquat trees years ago. How can a person turn their back on a $2 fruit tree seedling?
🙂 Yeah, we’ve discussed the kids book thing before, and it’s a good business opportunity, but you have to deal with the customers… 🙂 You mentioned growing peanuts in the greenhouse, and that’s where we’ll next try them. But I’ve got to construct a second greenhouse beforehand. Oh well.
The soil in the garden beds will appreciate the peanut butter and kibble. I feed the dogs separately because they vary the amount they want and need. Dame Plum prefers the smallest meals, and if I feed her what Ruby gets, she won’t eat her breakfast.
It never stops! Far out. I hear you about that. Weeded the grass and other ground cover plants growing around the young fruit trees in the large citrus enclosure today. It was hot work in the sun. And it’s still warm tonight. The pumpkin vines are almost done now due to reduced day length, so I’ll probably pull them all over the next few days. Hasn’t rained yet, and may do so tomorrow night, maybe. Definitely Sunday it will though, maybe…
Glad to hear that the blokes missed some of the blueberry bushes. Harsh pruning can knock some plants back, although they’ll probably make up for it next year.
Hehe! That’s a great Sheldon quote. And indicative of what the family’s thoughts were in the matter.
That author lives in a household which is clearly a blue zone. An enviable achievement to be still producing work at such an age too, and the book sounds intriguing. I’ll be interested to read your thoughts on the work.
Oh that’s a pithy line about your beard and employment. 🙂 Well done, and glad to hear that they accommodated you. Things are a bit more loose now on the presentation front in work places. I’m casual myself nowadays, although turn up on time clean, neat and groomed. It’s not much, but sometimes is way ahead of the pack. 😉
Hmm! That is very interesting! It could happen for sure. Yeah. Leave, or be left (whatever that means). Kind of like that inconvenient bloke who got suicided in that high security jail a while ago. They do say that dead men tell no tales.
Except maybe Gene Hackman does, I mean there’s film footage in the public domain, that’s different. Really? I’d not appreciated that it was the first big disaster flick. Hmm. Hey, the scene where the tidal wave hit the liner was pretty good. I’d not been expecting much from the scene, but it looked like total mayhem, and nobody wants to be hit with a grand piano. Not good. And I spotted Leslie Nielsen on the bridge. In terms of real world probabilities, it’s amazing anyone got out alive. Hard to get the lifeboats into the drink if the ship is laying on it’s side in the water. And yes, the disaster film Airport 77 left me with a lifelong fear of flying… 🙂 These things can crash, what the heck?
All very true, and that’s a wise philosophy about the sand. 😉 Man, I gotta break all those sorts of jobs up too, otherwise it can become overwhelming. Made a batch of toasted muesli today. Yesterday was Anzac biscuits. The day before yoghurt. Yup, little chunks are easier to deal with than too much all at once.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Well, our high yesterday was 68F (20C). The overnight low was, again, 32F (-0-), but, not for very long. The forecast high for today is 73F.
All this talk about phosphate … I checked something, and, yes, it’s time to start piddling in the garden, again. 🙂
I was once beavering away, on a job, and one of my co-workers was running her mouth, in my ear. But I have pretty good powers of concentration. Finally, I heard her say, “You’re not listening to me.” Pause. “Neither does my husband.” Poor bloke. 🙂 Why I’m occasionally down-right rude, to the chatty ones, around here. I have things to do! My life is full. Sorry yours is empty.
Interesting link to the article about the stingless bees. But they might have found a less haphazard photo. Search: “Stingless bees spiral hives.” Check “Images.” It will knock your socks off.
I watched Nick Frost’s “Get Away,” last night. Ohhh. It has a diabolical twist! I’d moved it to the top of the DVD stack. I made popcorn (with cheese!) and called it dinner. Can’t have dinner without desert, so I made the Honey Crinkles. I see they’re also called Honey Joys.
You can also make a chocolate version. And, a peanut butter version. But, for the maiden voyage, I just stuck with the tried and true. Junk food, but at least I know what’s in it. 🙂 I baked them in a muffin (cupcake) tin, using the parchment paper cups.
I weeded out the garlic / iris bed. Like performing surgery. I noticed there was some slug damage, to the iris. 🙁 I’ve never used it before, but scattered around a bit of slug bait, that the Master Gardeners have. After laying down a layer of mushroom compost. Watered. The strawberries are getting a lot of bloom. The rhododendrons are showing color.
Just to take the sting out of my beard comment, I followed up with, “Besides, I have no chin. If I shave my beard, I’ll never get another date.” 🙂
Yes, Nielsen has a small cameo as the captain of the Poseidon. The ship turns entirely over, hull up. There was a sequel, a few years later, but it didn’t do as well.
I was reading “Outrun” and ran across an interesting reference. “The International Cloud Atlas.” Who knew? I guess it’s best we’re all on the same page. Prof. Mass is banging on today, about the lack of clouds.
https://cloudatlas.wmo.int/en/home.html
They’re classified like plants … genera and species. Lew
Chris:
I’ve never been near a rendering plant, though I think I can guess how the smell might be; certainly we have to deal with dead bodies sometimes. It makes me think of how it smells when a farmer spreads the winter’s cow manure over the fields, though not in my uppity county, but I have smelled it elsewhere.
I fear that if I tried to run my household according to the tenets of The Art of War, that there just might be complaints. I would ask if that is how your household operates, but I won’t.
I can grow bell peppers now, but for years I couldn’t. I have no idea what changed. I was always able to grow a lot of hot peppers; strange.
Just this minute Tractorzilla finally started up. I hope my son has figured out what he did. He says he adjusted a screw in the hydraulic pump. Say, what?! He’s been working on it for days and maybe it was a screw? Time will tell.
We are doing well after the rain, had another one several days after that, but it is warming up again (it’s been cool), to be 89F ( 31.7C) tomorrow, and that sun is strong. I’ll probably have to water, so many little baby plants.
Pam
Chris,
Yes, the right strong stroking pat does help Dame Avalanche calm down. Usually. Front thigh muscles work somewhat best. The best distractor I’ve found for her, however, is her tail when we’re walking. If she’s getting too stressed by other dogs, I’ll reach for that curly tail and say with an impish tone “I’ve got your tail!” As she doesn’t like her tail to be got, she dodges out of the way. Rinse and repeat until she is in a better frame of mind.
And their patterns and routines? Dogs are out of sorts if those aren’t held to.
No winning possibilities is nasty when it occurs. I’ve only got one rule of thumb when things are that dire. Rather than attempt to find the least bad option, I prefer “Take no prisoners”. The corollary is “If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me.” Not liking to fight for survival when working, I listened a lot and documented a lot and made (sometimes illicit) copies of things. Once I had convinced managers that I knew where the skeletons were and had copies of the documentation in many locations, I never had to fight to keep them from mistreating me again.
Indoors it was maybe 65F in our Fairbanks apartment. Warm enough that if the refrigerator was having problems, drinks wouldn’t get as cold as we liked.
The outside door to the apartment was typical of many there. Meaning it would get so darn cold outside that there was a thin scum of hoarfrost on the inside of the door from ground level to a meter high. That started every time it got to -20C or colder. It was always a bit strange looking at frost on the inside of the door.
Nicely warm again today after a frost overnight. I knew it was too early to plant things. Dunno if the cherry blossoms liked the frost. At least our warmer than usual temperatures are much cooler than your recent heatwaves and Pam’s 89F.
Dame Avalanche had a special day today. When out on our walk this morning, we turned a corner and there was Killian and his human. So we walked with them for awhile. Later Killian’s owner picked me up to run errands and have lunch, so Dame Avalanche got to see her when I got picked up and dropped off. Seeing her cousin and her auntie always makes Avalanche happy. I was happy getting a senior discount at lunch, which meant I paid about 30% less than Killian’s human.
DJSpo
Hi Pam,
Abattoirs have to do something with the carcasses, and I for one am pleased to have at least some access to phosphates. I guess you’re right there, road kill is a thing sad to say, but collecting the carcasses might look weird if caught, and the dogs would be total nuisances. It’s good to see that the local farmers are spreading the winter manure (and presumably bedding straw) back onto the fields, oh, except they’re not. Ook! The stink would be worth it for the handy minerals. 🙂 I travel past plenty of places around here selling bags of horse manure, and only think to myself that those paddocks are over stocked. It’s a funny old world we live in.
🙂 Rest assured, I wasn’t suggesting that possibility, although it might come in handy, but then you and I are of one mind here, and the complaints would reduce overall harmony. Not sure about other households, but I value harmony.
On the other hand, it’s been my experience that all sorts of people can bring dramas to your doorstep, and there ain’t nothing which can be done about that. That’s when useful strategies can be employed. Generally speaking, seeking power and control is simply not on my radar. Just between you and I, I reckon I’m in the minority there! 🙂
Interesting. Those bell pepper fruits need a lot of summer heat to develop. Hot peppers on the other hand, and this is merely my observation, are smaller fruit and so require less heat. Dunno. The climate is changing here, so presumably it’s changing in your part of the world too?
Go Tractorzilla, and I have no thoughts whatsoever. Diesel engines are outside my skill set, so respect to your son for the achievement.
That weather is getting up there. The growing season has perhaps begun for you? It was warm-ish but cloudy day today, and I finished off the water project (other than checking and correcting for leaks). I dug by hand using an electric jackhammer and mattock, a 150ft of trenches and believe that I’ll sleep deeply tonight. 🙂
Yup, watering as an activity, takes a lot of time. It rained a tiny little bit tonight as the sun went down. Yay! Dampens down the dust.
Cheers
Chris
Hi DJ,
Ah, yes grabbing a dog’s tail sends a strong message and gets their immediate attention. Of course I advise the canine that: “Humans got your tail!” Always fun. And absolutely, getting a dog to reconnect with what you want as pack leader, is the essential element of dog training. Dunno what you observed with Dame Avalanche after training, but the two Kelpies are now accepting of limits and boundaries.
Dogs demand their routines and perquisites be adhered too. 🙂
Well, that’s a play right out of Sun Tzu’s strategy book – do the unexpected, and let them know that the cost of further annoyance will be considerable.
Ah, 65’F = 18’C. Right, that is too warm for beer, which should be served closer to more usual refrigerator temperature at 4’C / 39’F. Just cold enough to produce condensation on the outside of a glass on a warm day. Man, I can’t even begin to imagine a winter in Fairbanks. Hoarfrost on doors would be something to see, but I’d settle on a photo being somewhat summer soft in this little temperate corner of the planet.
Interestingly, I’m reading about yellow jacket wasps being a nuisance in this rough geographical part of the world. Do you know, haven’t seen them here so far this growing season because I removed that willow tree where the pesky wasps were harvesting the sap sucking aphids. But they’re over in the more fashionable part of the mountain range for sure. Lot’s more to eat for them there.
Cherry blossoms seem pretty hardy to me, but it depends on how frosty the morning was.
It was warm again here today, and I finished digging the 45m of trenches for the 1″ water pipe. Connected everything up and just completed the works as the last of the sunlight fled for the day. Me tired tonight! Still, it’s nice to have the job complete (although I’ll check for leaks over the next week or longer).
It began to rain lightly as the sun went down too. More rain is due over the next few days, and I’m looking forward to that.
Well done to you and Dame Avalanche. Always nice to get a discount. 🙂 But was lunch good? The local pie and tart trail festival is now on again for the rest of the month. Yum! Yum!
Cheers
Chris
Hi Lewis,
Far out! Today was the same temperature here (more or less) as your part of the world. 73’F, yup, but without the early morning frosty weather. How did the plants cope with the cold?
It was also very cloudy here today, so I dug the remainder of the 150ft of trenches for the 1″ water pipe which connects the machinery shed tank system, to the house water system. Man, it was 5pm and the light was fading into twilight, and I just finished the project by sheer force of personality. But am now feeling tired tonight. Sort of cleaned up everything in the almost dark. And it was gently raining too, which was nice. The dust is feral at the moment.
Oh! And in the kitchen this morning I shelled the carob pods up and roasted them. Now, I have no idea what I’m doing with that stuff and thought that the seeds were what produced the carob flour, but no, it was the pods. They then had to be fished out of the worm farm bucket, which fortunately was clean. I couldn’t find decent instructions on how long to bake the pods and at what temperature, so took a guess and slightly over did them. Blitzed the roasted pods up and they smell really nice, not chocolate (of course not), but they’re sweet with a kind of nut flavouring. Might plant the seeds and see if new trees will form.
I’ll probably add the carob flour to the Anzac biscuits.
Oh yeah, phosphate is a bit of a problem which few people are speaking about. But we do have that useful source. 🙂
Oh my gawd, now I feel sorry for the lady’s husband as well. 😉 At least numbers were clearly on your side in that instance! You know I’m chatty, but only with some people, however I also remember to work hard. There’s some middle ground in there, but I fully acknowledge that everyone is different in that regard.
I reckon chats have to be two way, and that isn’t always the case.
Thanks for mentioning the images of the spiral hives, and they’re lovely constructions. It’s a bit of a bummer that winters here are just slightly too cold for those stingless bees. I could make an insulated housing for them, but we do get frosts and they won’t like that at all. Might be worth trialling if varroa takes out the hive, which it might.
Hmm, a twist to the conclusion of the film. That’s what I’d call a teaser. Lewis, I’m embarrassed to write that the plot summary could not be found, and that I even looked it up to see what the twist was all about. I know! I know! So guilty. Thanks for the film recommendation, and Nick Frost is a pretty funny comedic actor (and screen play writer).
Hope the honey crinkles added to the enjoyment of the film? 🙂
Yeah, some weeding is like that, and Irises multiply. Good to hear that you’re brushing up on your surgical skills as it may come in handy during the next urgent amputation. Nobody wants to be unprepared for that drama, do they? I’d probably feint and would be no good at such work!
What can possibly eat iris leaves? You’ve got one lot of scary slugs where you live. Mushroom compost is a decent soil feed and I’ll be curious to hear your experience with the stuff as the growing season goes on.
A nice follow up to the beard pithy remark, a bit of self deprecation doesn’t hurt in that context. People can be very super serious at times, but glad they eventually decided to just deal with the beard.
I couldn’t quite understand the plot summary, but got the impression that a whole bunch of people died whilst trying to escape. The plot summary sort of suggested that the folks who waited for rescue with the purser, had a higher survival rate. Did I read that correctly? I remember seeing the film a long time ago, but it can be hard to recall such details. On that note, the other day the Editor and I were talking about that baker dude on the Titanic, and one of the things which occurred to me is that plenty of people who ended up in the ocean on that night, wouldn’t have known how to swim – extreme cold water also being a problem. But the baker dude purportedly doggie paddled in the water for two hours, and that’s not something you’d do if you didn’t know how to swim. I reckon panic would have got a lot of people that night. In the water, fear is the mind and body killer. The only reason the subject came up, is because drownings are right up lately down under. Turns out a lot of people who immigrate down under, don’t know how to swim, and all it takes is slipping off a rock, or being washed off one. When I was a kid, they’d drill you on how to swim, but things are clearly different nowadays.
Ah, such esoteric information presented in a nice neat format. The whole thing is new to me. Yeah, I saw that about genera and species. Too much for my brain, sorry.
Cheers
Chris
Yo, Chris – Our high yesterday was 75F (23.88C). Our overnight low was 43F (6.11C). The forecast high for today is 60F. I didn’t see any frost damage. Since our local weather station has stopped reporting temperatures, I don’t know what the source is of the readings. Where I’m getting the readings from, now, it’s an hourly graph. Lately, every time the temperature hits 32F (-0-), it never lasts long.
Pushing the light. 🙂 . I’ve had a time or two, out in the garden, where I’m completing a task, and am rapidly losing the light. We do have a street light, near the gardens, that kicks on. And light from the parking lot. Not enough to do close work, but can pretty much finish up whatever I’m doing.
I know nothing about carob. I always thought it came from the beans, too. I did do a search for “Processing carob at home” and found this ..
https://www.instructables.com/How-to-Process-Carob/
I don’t suppose you can make chocolate Easter bunnies out of them.
It’s nice to know you were unable to find spoilers, for “Get Away.” Nice to know there are still honorable humans, out there. 🙂
I finished weeding the last patch, last night. I still had coffee grounds (and a lot of other stuff mixed in), and cleaned three small bin bags of the stuff and scattered it around that patch. It’s funny what slugs will go after, and what they won’t.
It was pretty clear the folks who stayed in the ballroom with the purser, drowned. The wall comes crashing in, and people swarm the Christmas tree used as an escape route, and it collapses. The little band being led by Gene Hackman do run across another group of survivors, but they’re headed in the wrong direction. The sequel follows another small group of survivors, but I don’t know the details.
We got the local food box, yesterday. Usually, there’s no produce in that box, but a lot of space was taken up by a 5 pound bag of potatoes and a bag that had an orange, two tangerines, three apples and four limes. And an 8 oz. clam shell of very sad looking sliced mushrooms.
There was a one pound tin of smoked ham, but I suspect it was mostly water. There was no chocolate Easter bunny. 🙁 Lew
Hi Lewis,
Your nights are warming up for sure, and that I reckon will lift the soil temperatures. Does the soil feel cold to touch in the morning (not that I’m good at getting into the garden during the early hours, what can I say, other than it’s a personal failing! 🙂 )? Anyway, that’s usually an indicator I use to know whether the warm season seedlings can handle the over night cold air. Soil thermometers provide a degree of accuracy, but are not entirely necessary. Man, I hope the purists aren’t reading that last sentence…
Dunno about your part of the world, but here I reckon it’s coldest at about 6am. An unnatural time of the day to be up and about if I may say so. This morning I was up at 5am though as Ollie had to go to the toilet badly. Seems to be feeling better today though.
Ah, that’s a great expression. Always nice to have a bit of artificial lighting during such moments, and a year or so back I bought a work light which can turn night into day. It’s a beast of a thing, and has proven to be rather unexpectedly useful. The sun here is setting a lot earlier nowadays, so a person has to adjust, which presumably you’re also now doing, but in reverse?
In relation to that bonkers powerful light, last night we spotted not one, not two, but three possums clambering around the kiwi fruit vines. What are the owls doing, they’re on the payroll… Oh well. Kuato the enormous brush tailed possum was showing off his resplendent gut, and there were also two much smaller ring tailed possums (a different variety). Chances of a harvest this year is looking slim.
Thanks for the link to the carob instructions. Here, I have to fess up to a major, major, error. You would have noted that the instructions suggest to dry the blitzed pods at low heat in an oven (or dehydrate, that should have been the warning) – they all say the same thing. And it was at that point where things went wrong. Switched the oven on and ran the stuff through for 45 minutes at 330’F which is how long and the temperature the Anzac biscuits are baked at. I burnt the carob batch.
Next time I’ll chuck the blitzed pods through the dehydrator on a solid sheet for a day. That machine heats to a maximum of 140’F, there being something of a difference.
As a reviewer of my own carob food creation, the stuff still tastes pretty good, it’s just got that slight hint of overly caramelised taste, which some harsher critics may describe as burnt. The carbon however might be good for the guts? Sugar being a simple carbon molecule. Oh well, back to the drawing board.
Very funny, but to me carob tastes like, err, carob. Not the same at all as chocolate, but not all that far removed either, and if that was the only supply – who’d be impolite enough to say otherwise? Have you had any Easter chocolate yet? Can’t say that I have. And yes, it’s an absolute shame that there were none at all in the food box.
Despite the initial disappointment at being unable to reveal the surprising twist in that particular story, it gladdens my heart too. The word ‘spoilers’ literally conveys the idea of something which is ‘spoilt’. Now we’ve spoken of this matter over the years and whilst many folks suggest that to be ‘spoiled’ is a good thing, maybe it’s just me, but it brings to mind the concept of rotten fruit. And only some few fruits are edible when bletted, such as persimmons and medlars. But those are not the common fruits, in the west at least.
Slugs know their business. Now that you’re collecting the coffee grounds from the Club, has the general level of other waste products in that stream improved?
Oh, that’s a total bummer about the folks who waited with the purser. Doing nothing was not an option in that instance. Ah, thanks for the correction. I’d misread the wikipudding plot summary which said something along the lines of: ‘most of the survivors sided with the purser’. But that sentence didn’t convey the reality that the people who survived one incident, failed to survive the next one. Poorly written if I may freely observe. I’d have left that mess too and taken my chances… It’s hardly surprising the sequel did less well if the other group came to a bad end. Don’t people want a redemption tale? Just saying that ‘Sean of the Dead’ had that moment of encountering another group of survivors. 😉
The produce overall sounds good, but maybe avoid the sad looking mushrooms. If you ever leave such things in the refrigerator too long, the resulting fungi hyphae, will be blue. Very pretty, but not all that tasty, at a wild guess if the smell is anything to judge by.
Dude, spam is a solid mass. The water in that can could mean much, or little. Probably best avoided on the general grounds of prudence! Stay safe out there. And it’s an outrage that there is no Easter bunny. However, for all you know, there may have been a chocolate egg hunt which you missed?
Cheers
Chris
Hello Chris!
Seems you have had a good Easter week.
Here it was quite busy, but I wanted to share a short note regarding what you wrote about costs of maintenance and infrastructure.
Many years back I stumbled on the paper about “catabolic collapse” and started to read the ADR blog, later Ecosophia, and that is how I came to your most excellent blog.
The core message of the paper is that adding infrastructure is adding maintenance cost. If resource availability goes down, the only activity we can afford is maintenance. And we will have to shed infrastructure if income goes even further down…
In Sweden there are some post-industrial towns that had their heyday in the 1800s.
I have visited some towns like that in the US as well, like Holyoke.
Cheap housing, and every year less services.
I also once visited Detroit, which seems to be on the same trajectory since the 1980s.
And your stories about the post-mining towns tell the same story.
What goes up, usually comes down.
I wish you both a happy Easter celebration.
Peace,
Göran
Yo, Chris – And, from our “Isn’t that a coincidence” department. We were lately talking about how feed sacks were printed with patterns, and used. I was looking at the “New on Order, Non-fiction” list, in the library catalog, last night. And, saw this …
https://timberland.bibliocommons.com/v2/record/S214C1176008
Click on “Read More” and you’ll see a couple of paragraphs of description. I thought, since the Editor is interested in fabric, she might find it interesting. I put a hold on it, just to take a look.
Our high yesterday was 61F (16.11C). The overnight low was 45F (7.22C). Forecast high for today is 57F. Right now, the coldest part of the night is around 4 or 5am. In winter, it can be around 8 or 9am, right before the sun rises. We’re supposed to have scattered showers, this afternoon. There are clouds heading in from the coast. But it looks pretty hit and miss. I still may need to water, tonight. Prof. Mass has a post on the Titanic.
Naughty possums! Something had better come along and clean them out. Maybe the owls are waiting for them to get nice and fat?
At least the carob isn’t a total loss. We all have mishaps in the kitchen. There have been articles that Easter chocolate will be scarce and expensive, this year. Due to crop failures in West Africa. Oh, well. Today is Easter and I’ll have my every-other-day two squares of dark chocolate, after lunch.
I like to go out and work in the garden, two or three hours before sunset. It’s usually pretty quiet out there, at that time. Last night, I weeded the two barrels, out back. Where I will plant pumpkins and asparagus. Then, I noticed a dandelion growing on the slope, so I dug it out. Then I noticed another one … It’s a slippery slope. 🙂 I kept spotting more and more of them. That way lays madness! The breeze was just right, for an application of stove ash, so, I hit all my garlic beds.
Just for poops and giggles, I did a search for which vegetables like an application of stove ash. The ones that applied to me were strawberries, garlic, tomatoes and … asparagus. I watered, and sprinkled a bit more slug bait, around my iris.
There’s still a lot of junk, in the coffee grounds. I dump out a bin bag, and start sorting through it, tossing the detritus back in the bag. The usual haul is paper coffee cups, little plastic creamer pods and stir straws. Those are the worst to spot. They’re the exact color of the soil. I shake out the coffee filters, as, they don’t break down very fast. And, they’re the white bleached kind. I’m left with a nice mound of coffee grounds, which I cast around.
It was speculated that the Poseidon sequel, didn’t do as well, as it was just more of the same. In the sequel, there is a small group of survivors. Although how they survived isn’t revealed. The library doesn’t have a copy. I guess someone famous in the film will have to die, before they order one. 🙂
The mushrooms weren’t so far gone that someone couldn’t make soup out of them. Just not me. 🙂 . So, I took them down to the community room, and left them in the refrigerator.
I was feeling totally uninspired, when it came to dinner, last night. I finally settled on half a can of salmon, with rice, garlic, peas, dehydrated tomatoes and a bit of chopped celery. Gave it a splash of soy sauce, to give it an Asian twist. I had celery with peanut butter, for desert. No ants on my log. I think I’ll watch “Die Hard,” tonight. It will be a popcorn night (with cheese!). Lew